Circuits responsive to and controlling charged particles

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are self-contained high electrical charge density entities, generated in electrical discharge production. Apparatus for isolating the high charge density entities, selecting them and manipulating them by various guide techniques are disclosed. Utilizing such apparatus, the paths followed by the entities may be switched, or selectively varied in length, for example, whereby the entities may be extensively manipulated. Additional devices are disclosed for the manipulation and exploitation of these entities, including their use with a camera and also in an oscilloscope, as well as their use in generating RF radiation. A flat panel display is disclosed which is operated by these high charge entities, up to the point of their generating electrons to strike a phosphor screen.

Cross-Reference to Related Applications

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/183,506,filed May 3, 1988, now abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of myU.S. patent application Ser. No. 137,244, filed Jan. 6, 1988.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention pertains to the production, manipulation andexploitation of high electrical charge density entities. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to high negative electricalcharge density entities, generated by electrical discharge production,and which may be utilized in the transfer of electrical energy.

2. Brief Description of Prior Art

Intense plasma discharges, high intensity electron beams and likephenomena have been the subjects of various studies. Vacuum Arcs Theoryand Application, Edited by J.M. Lafferty, John Wiley & Sons, 1980,includes a brief history of the study of vacuum discharges, as well asdetailed analyses of various features of vacuum arcs in general.Attention has been focused on cathode spots and the erosion of cathodesused in producing discharges, as well as anode spots and structure ofthe discharges. The structure of electron beams has been described interms of vortex filaments. Various investigators have obtained evidencefor discharge structures from target damage studies of witness platerecords formed by the incidence of the discharge upon a plane plateinterposed in the electrical path of the discharge between the sourceand the anode. Pinhole camera apparatus has also disclosed geometricstructure indicative of localized dense sources of other radiation, suchas X-rays and neutrons, attendant to plasma focus and related dischargephenomena. Examples of anomalous structure in the context of a plasmaenvironment are varied, including lightning, in particular balllightning, and sparks of any kind, including sparks resulting from theopening or closing of relays under high voltage, or under low voltagewith high current flow.

The use of a dielectric member to constrain or guide a high currentdischarge is known from studies of charged particle beams propagating inclose proximity to a dielectric body. In such investigations, the entireparticle flux extracted from the source was directed along thedielectric guide. Consequently, the behavior of the particle flux wasdominated by characteristics of the gross discharge. As used herein,"gross discharge" means, in part, the electrons, positive ions, negativeions, neutral particles and photons typically included in an electricaldischarge. Properties of particular discrete structure present in thedischarge are not clearly differentiated from average properties of thegross discharge. In such studies utilizing a dielectric guide, the guideis employed wholly for path constraint purposes. Dielectric guides areutilized in the context of the present invention for the manipulation ofhigh charge density entities as opposed to the gross discharge.

The structure in plasma discharges which has been noted by priorinvestigators may not reflect the same causal circumstances, nor eventhe same physical phenomena, pertinent to the present invention. Whereasthe high charge density entities of the present invention may bepresent, if unknown, in various discharges, the present inventiondiscloses an identification of the entities, techniques for generatingthem, isolating them and manipulating them, and applications for theiruse. The technology of the present invention defines, at least in part,a new technology with varied applications, including, but not limitedto, execution of very fast processes, transfer of energy utilizingminiaturized components, time analysis of other phenomena and spotproduction of X-rays.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention involves a high charge density entity being arelatively discrete, self-contained, negatively charged, high densitystate of matter that may be produced by the application of a highelectrical field between a cathode and an anode. I have named thisentity ELECTRUM VALIDUM, abbreviated "EV," from the Greek "elektron" forelectronic charge, and from the Latin "valere" meaning to have power, tobe strong, and having the ability to unite. As will be explained in moredetail hereinafter, EV's are also found to exist in a gross electricaldischarge.

The present invention includes discrete EV's comprising individual EV'sas well as EV "chains" identified hereinbelow. It is an object of thepresent invention to provide for the generation of EV's within adischarge, and for the separation of the EV's from the diffuse spacecharge limited flux produced therewith.

It is a further object to manipulate EV's in time and space.

It is yet another object to isolate and manipulate EV's to achieveprecise relative time interval control and measurement.

A principal feature of the invention is the provision of a channelsource EV generator based upon raising the electron density of space tothe EV formation level through the use of secondary emission, coupledwith an electron ram effect.

An additional feature of the invention is the provision of means toaccelerate EV's, for example, in circulator or wiggler patterns, togenerate RF radiation, which can either be radiated outwardly, or storedthrough appropriate RF shielding.

In addition, the invention uses EV's to operate a flat panel display,including a final step of using such EV's to generate electrons tostrike a phosphor screen. As additional features of such a flat paneldisplay, the individual components for such a display are illustratedand described herein, for example, such as EV switching devices, EVstepping registers and storage devices responsive to EV's passingtherethrough. As an additional feature of the flat panel display, ananalogue to digital encoder is provided which takes wideband analoguevideo voltages and converts them, using the passage of EV'stherethrough, to an output digital code that satisfies the binary datarequirements of the stepping registers used in the display.

As yet another feature of the invention, means are provided forconverting an RC guide for EV's into an LRC guide for such EV's.

As still another feature of the invention, an apparatus is providedwhich uses a pair of EV guides crossing in the same plane.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top, plan view of an EV generator including a witness platefor detecting the production of EV's;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the EV generator of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation in cross section, partly schematic, ofanother form of EV generator;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side elevation in cross section of a wetted metalcathode for use in the EV generator of FIG. 3, for example;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 of another form of wetted metalcathode;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIGS. 4 and 5 of still another form ofwetted metal cathode;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of a cathode and an anode on a dielectricsubstrate;

FIG. 8 is a side elevation in partial section of acylindrically-symmetric EV generator utilizing a separator;

FIG. 9 is a side elevation in partial section of a planar EV generatorwith a separator;

FIG. 10 is a top plan view of the separator cover shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a top plan view of a planar RC EV guide;

FIG. 12 is an end elevation of the EV guide of FIG. 11, equipped with acover;

FIG. 13 is a top plan view of another form of planar RC EV guide;

FIG. 14 is an end elevation of the EV guide of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a side elevation in cross section of acylindrically-symmetric RC EV guide;

FIG. 16 is a side elevation in cross section of another form ofcylindrically-symmetric RC EV guide;

FIG. 17 is a side elevation of an EV generator in conjunction with an EVguide utilizing a gas environment;

FIG. 18 is an end elevation of the generator and guide of FIG. 17;

FIG. 19 is a top plan view of an EV guide system using opticalreflectors;

FIG. 20 is an exploded view in perspective of an LC EV guide;

FIG. 21 is an exploded view in perspective of another form of LC EVguide;

FIG. 22 is a top plan view of still another form of EV generator inwhich the cathode is integral with a propagating surface for the EV'swithin a guide channel;

FIG. 23 is a vertical cross section of the EV generator of FIG. 22 takenalong section lines 23--23 of FIG. 22;

FIG. 24 is an end elevation of the EV generator shown in FIGS. 22 and23, equipped with a cover;

FIG. 25 is a side elevation in cross section of acylindrically-symmetric EV generator-launcher;

FIG. 26 is a side elevation in partial section of a cylindricallysymmetric EV selector and a guide;

FIG. 27 is a top plan view of a planar EV selector;

FIG. 28 is an end elevation of the EV selector of FIG. 27;

FIG. 29 is a top plan view of an EV splitter;

FIG. 30 is an end elevation of the EV splitter of FIG. 29;

FIG. 31 is a top plan view of another EV splitter;

FIG. 32 is an end elevation of the EV splitter of FIG. 31, equipped witha cover;

FIG. 33 is a top plan view of a variable time delay EV splitter;

FIG. 34 is a fragmentary vertical cross section of a portion of thesplitter of FIG. 33, taken along line 34--34 of FIG. 33;

FIG. 35 is a top plan view of another form of variable time delay EVsplitter;

FIG. 36 is a top plan view of an EV deflection switch;

FIG. 37 is a vertical cross section of the EV deflection switch of FIG.36, taken along line 37--37 of FIG. 36;

FIG. 38 is an end elevation of the deflection switch of FIGS. 36 and 37;

FIG. 39 is a top plan view of an EV oscilloscope;

FIG. 40 is an end elevation of the EV oscilloscope of FIG. 39, equippedwith a cover and illustrating the use of an optical magnification devicewith the oscilloscope;

FIG. 41 is a side elevation, partially cut away, of a electron camerashowing an EV source positioned in front thereof;

FIG. 42 is a vertical cross section of the electron camera of FIG. 41,taken along line 42--42 of FIG. 41:

FIG. 43 is a side elevation of a camera as shown in FIGS. 41 and 42,mounted to view an EV oscilloscope, and showing the lens system of atelevision camera mounted to view the output of the electron camera;

FIG. 44 is a schematic representation showing the use of multipleelectron cameras to observe the behavior of EV's;

FIG. 45 is a schematic, isometric representation of a planarmultielectrode EV generator;

FIG. 46 is a top plan view of another planar multielectrode generator;

FIG. 47 is a vertical cross section of the multielectrode EV generatorof FIG. 46, taken along line 47--47 of FIG. 46;

FIG. 48 is an end view of the multielectrode generator of FIGS. 46 and47;

FIG. 49 is a side elevation in cross section of an "electrodeless" EVsource;

FIG. 50 is a side elevation, partly schematic, of a traveling wave tubeutilizing EV's;

FIG. 51 is a top plan view, partly schematic, of a planar traveling wavecircuit utilizing EV's:

FIG. 52 is a vertical cross section of a pulse generator utilizing EV's;

FIG. 53 is an end view of the pulse generator of FIG. 52:

FIG. 54 is a side elevation in partial section of a field emission EVgenerator utilizing the principles of the pulse generator of FIGS. 52and 53;

FIG. 55 is a top plan view of a planar field emission EV generator;

FIG. 56 is a circuit diagram for operating the field emission EVgenerator of FIG. 55;

FIG. 57 is a side elevation in partial section of an X-ray generatorutilizing EV's;

FIG. 58 is an exploded, isometric view of a gated electron sourceutilizing EV's;

FIG. 59 is an exploded, isometric view of an RF source utilizing EV's;

FIG. 60 is a schematic, pictorial view of an EV;

FIG. 61 is a schematic, pictorial view of a chain of EV's;

FIG. 62 is a plan view of a channel source device using electronmultiplication to generate EV's;

FIG. 63 is an end view of the EV generater illustrated in FIG. 62;

FIG. 64 is a graphic representation of the voltage gradient found in theEV generater illustrated in FIG. 62;

FIG. 65 is a plan view, schematically illustrating a circulator devicefor circulating EV's;

FIG. 66 is a cross-sectional view of the circulator according to FIG.65, taken along the section lines 66--66 of FIG. 65;

FIG. 67 is a plan view of an EV wiggler device;

FIG. 68 is a series of force diagrams relating to the use of EV's invarious guide structures;

FIG. 69 illustrates, schematically, a pair of EV deflection switches;

FIG. 70 is a schematic illustration of a photo activated storage devicefor use with EV's;

FIG. 71 is a schematic illustration of a diode activated storage devicefor use with EV's;

FIG. 72 is a schematic illustration of a charge activated storage devicefor use with EV's;

FIG. 73 illustrates, schematically, a pair of EV switching devices;

FIG. 74 is a schematic illustration of a storage device which uses EV'sto set the device;

FIG. 75 is a schematic illustration of an EV stepping register;

FIG. 76 is a block diagram of an EV operated flat panel display;

FIG. 77 is an elevated view, in cross-section of an EV stepping registergate;

FIG. 78 is a block diagram, schematic view, of a section of gates,showing the line of stepping registers that control the gates;

FIG. 79 illustrates schematically, in block diagram, a layout of theline selector responsible for selecting and feeding EV's into theappropriate line of stepping registers;

FIG. 80 is an end view of an LRC guide for use with EV's;

FIG. 81 is a plan view of the LRC guide illustrated in FIG. 80;

FIG. 82 is an expanded view, in elevation, of the guide channel used inthe LRC guide illustrated in FIGS. 80 and 81;

FIG. 83 is a plan view, in schematic, of an analogue to digital encoderfor use in displays operated by EV's;

FIG. 84 is a plan view of two crossing EV guides; and

FIG. 85 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 84, takenalong the lines 85--85 of FIG. 84.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

1. Definition and Some EV Properties

An Ev is a discrete, self-contained, negatively charged bundle ofelectrons. While not yet fully understanding the configuration of an EV,I believe the self-containment to be due to electromagnetic fields setup between the electrons within the bundle, based upon my manyobservations of EV behavior. This, of course, is in sharp contrast to aconventional electron beam in which the containment of electrons is dueeither to an external electrostatic field or an external magnetic field.As is well known in the art, electrons, each being negatively charged,tend to repel each other.

It should also be appreciated that even though the EV is aself-contained bundle of electrons, it does prefer to communicate withother objects or entities, such as other EV's, dielectrics andelectrodes, for example, as contrasted with going off on its own, andtends to come apart after some period of time if there is nothing withwhich to communicate.

Primary characteristics of an EV include its relatively small size (forexample on the order of one micrometer in lateral dimension, but can belarger or as small as 0.1 micrometer), and high, uncompensated electroncharge (that is, without positive ions, or at least with an upper limitof one ion per 100,000 electron charges), typically on the order of 10¹¹electron charges. The minimum charge observed for a one micrometer EV is10⁸ electron charges. The charge density of an EV approximates theaverage density of a solid, that is, on the order of 6.6×10²³ electroncharges/cm³ but without being space charge neutralized by ions or havingrelativistic electron motion. The velocity attained by an EV underapplied fields (on the order of one tenth the speed of light) indicatesthat the EV charge-to-mass ratio is similar to that of an electron, anddeflection of EV's by fields of known polarity shows that EV's respondas electrons, that is, as negatively charged entities.

As best as can be determined at present, the shape of an EV is mostlikely generally spherical, but may be toric, and could have finestructure. As schematically illustrated in FIG. 60, an EV is illustratedas having a central sphere 800 of self-contained electrons, surroundedby an electromagnetic field 801. Coupling between EV's produces quasistable structures. However, lone EV's are rarely observed. EV's exhibita tendency to link up like beads in a chain, for example, asschematically illustrated in FIG. 61, wherein the EV beads in the chainmay be somewhat free to rotate or twist about each other under theinfluence of external forces or internal forces. The chains, which areclosed, may be observed to form ring-like structures as large as 20micrometers in diameter, and multiple chains may also unite and mutuallyalign in relatively orderly fashion. In the chain 810 of FIG. 61, theten EV's 812, 814, 816, 818, 820, 822, 824, 826, 828 and 830 are showngenerally in a circular pattern. Spacing of EV beads in a chain isnormally approximately equal to the diameter of the individual beads.Spacing of one chain ring from another is on the order of one ringdiameter. A one micrometer wide ring of ten EV beads, which is thetypical number of beads in a chain, may include 10¹² electron charges.Individual EV beads may be observed within a chain ring. An EV entity,which is in the nature of a non-neutral electron plasma, is moststrongly bound, with the binding force between EV beads in a chain beingweaker, and finally the binding between chains of beads being theweakest. However, all of the binding energies appear to be greater thanchemical binding energy of materials. Additional EV properties arediscussed hereinafter.

2. Generators

An EV may be generated at the end of an electrode that has asufficiently large negative voltage applied to it. FIGS. 1 and 2illustrate an EV generator, shown generally at 10, including a cathode12 generally in the form of an elongate rod having a neck portion 12aending in a point and directed generally downwardly toward an anodeplate 14 separated from the cathode by an intervening dielectric plate16. As indicated in the drawing, the anode, or collector electrode, 14is maintained at a relatively positive voltage value, which may beground, and a negative pulse on the order of 10 kv is applied to thecathode 12 to generate an intense electric field at the point of thecathode. With the resulting field emission at the cathode tip. One ormore EV's are formed, generally in the vicinity of where the point ofthe cathode approaches or contacts the dielectric at A. The EV's areattracted to the anode 14, and travel across the surface of thedielectric 16 toward the anode, generally along a path indicated by thedashed line B, for example, as long as the dielectric surface isuncharged. Propagation of one, or several EVS, along the dielectricsurface may leave the surface locally charged. A subsequent EV willfollow an erratic path on the surface unless the surface charge is firstdispersed, as discussed in detail hereinafter. The insulating dielectricplate 16, which is preferably of a high quality dielectric, such asquartz, prevents a direct discharge between the cathode 12 and the anode14, and also serves to provide a surface along which the EV's maytravel.

If desired, a witness plate 18 may be positioned adjacent the anode 14to intercept the EV's from the cathode 12. The witness plate 18 may bein the form of a conducting foil which will sustain visible damage uponimpact by an EV. Thus, the witness plate 18 may be utilized to detectthe generation of EV's as well as to locate their points of impact atthe anode 14. Additionally, an EV propagating across the dielectricsurface will make an optically visible streak on the surface. Asdiscussed in further detail hereinafter, other components may beutilized in conjunction with the generator 10 to further manipulateand/or exploit the EV's thus generated.

The generator 10 may be located within an appropriate enclosure (notshown) and thus operated in vacuum or in a controlled gaseous atmosphereas desired. In general, all of the components disclosed herein may be sopositioned within appropriate enclosures to permit selection of theatmosphere in which the components are operated. Terminals or the like,and gas transmission lines may be utilized to communicate electricalsignals and selected gas at desired pressure through the enclosurewalls.

The scale indication of 10 mm included in FIG. 1 is a typical dimensionfor EV generating components. Generally, when EV's are generated andmanipulated in small numbers, they can be made and guided by smallstructures. Even when large structures are used, an EV seeks thesmallest details of the gross structures and is guided by them andinteracts most actively with them, leaving the larger detailsunattended. To a first approximation, generation and manipulation ofindividual EV beads may be accomplished with structures having overalldimensions of as little as ten micrometers.

Generally, very stable materials are desired for use in the constructionof structures to generate, manipulate and exploit EV's, includingrefractory metals and dielectrics chosen to approach as closely aspossible the binding energy of an EV, so as to preserve the life of thestructures. Some dielectric materials, such as low melting pointplastic, are not as preferable as other materials, for example, such asceramic.

With any type of EV generator, and whether dc or a pulse signal isapplied to the cathode, it is necessary to complete the current flowpath around a loop by using an electrode of some type to collect the EV(except in the case of "electrodeless" sources as discussedhereinafter).

Another form of EV generator is shown generally at 20 in FIG. 3, andincludes a cylindrically symmetric cathode 22 having a conical endfacing but displaced from an anode/collector electrode 24 which is alsocylindrically symmetric. An operating circuit includes a load resistor26 connecting the anode 24 to ground, while a current limiting inputresistor 28 is interposed between the cathode 22 and an input terminal30. The anode 24 is equipped with an output terminal 32 to which may beconnected ancillary equipment. For example, detection equipment (notshown), such as an oscilloscope, may be joined to the system by terminal32 whereby the impact of EV's on the anode may be noted.

An enclosure, such as within a cylindrical glass tube 34, may beprovided whereby the environment in the gap between the cathode 22 andthe anode 24 may be controlled, and maintained either in vacuum or at aselected gas pressure. The tubing 34 may be appropriately sealed andfitted with communication lines (not shown) to a vacuum pump and/or gassupply to control the environment within the tube.

The cathode 22 may be driven by a negative-going pulse, or a directcurrent, of approximately 2 kv relative to the anode. The length of thenegative pulse may be varied from a few nanoseconds to dc withoutgreatly influencing the production of EV's. Under long pulse lengthconditions, the input resistor 28 must be chosen to prevent a sustainedglow discharge within the glass tube. Under high vacuum conditions, orlow pressure such as 10⁻³ torr, the discharge is easily quenched and theresistor 28 may be eliminated, but for a gaseous environment of higherpressure, a value of the resistor must be chosen that is consistent withthe gas pressure used so as to quench the discharge. For operation inboth a vacuum and gaseous regime using a pulse length of 0.1microsecond, for example, a typical resistor value of 500 to 1500 ohmscan be used.

In high vacuum operation of the generator 20, the spacing between thecathode 22 and the anode 24 should preferably be less than 1 mm for a 2kv signal applied to the cathode. For operation in gases at pressures ofa few torr, the distance between the cathode 22 and the anode 24 may beincreased to over 60 cm provided a ground plane 36 is used adjacent theglass tubing as shown. The ground plane 36 may extend partly around thetubing 34, or even circumscribe the tube. For particular applications,the glass tube 34 can be replaced by other structures to guide EV's, asdiscussed hereinafter, and various circuits can be devised to takeadvantage of various EV properties.

3. Cathodes

The cathodes, such as 12 and 22 discussed hereinbefore, may be pointedby any appropriate technique, such as grinding and polishing, and evenchemical etching, to achieve a sufficiently sharp point to allow theconcentration of a very high field at the end of the cathode. Undernormal conditions, as EV's are generated at the tip of such a metallicelectrode, the electrode material is dispersed and the cathode point orother configuration is destroyed by the energy dissipated in it, and thevoltage required to produce EV's increases. However, the cathode may becoupled to a source of liquid conductor, and the tip of the electroderegenerated in a very short time. FIG. 4 shows a metallic electrode 40that is wetted with a conductive substance 42 coated onto the cathodewhereby the coating material may undergo surface migration to thepointed tip of the electrode. The migrating material renews the tip ofthe electrode to maintain a sharp point as EV generation by theelectrode tends to deteriorate the electrode tip. Surface tension of thecoating material 42, its destruction at the tip, and the electric fieldgenerated at the cathode combine to propel the migration of the coatingsubstance toward the tip.

In FIG. 5 an electrode 44 is surrounded by a tube 46 whereby an annularspacing 48 is defined between the outer surface of the electrode and theinner surface of the tube. The spacing 48 serves to maintain a reservoirof coating material 50 which is held within the spacing by surfacetension, but wets the cathode and migrates to the tip of the cathode informing a coating 52 thereon to maintain an appropriately sharpenedcathode point. The reservoir tube 46 is preferably a non-conductor, suchas aluminum oxide ceramic, to prevent unwanted electron emission fromthe tube as well as unwanted migration of the wetting material along thetube. Otherwise, a conductor tube may be used as long as it is not tooclose to the cathode tip, whereupon the tube may emit electrons. Thecoating material 50 may, in general, be any metallic liquid such asmercury, which may appropriately migrate over an electrode 44constructed of copper, for example.

The cathodes 40 and 44 of FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively, are designed forEV emission from a specific point. In FIG. 6 a tubular cathode 54features a conically shaped interior at one end forming a sharp,circular edge, or line, 56 at which EV's are generated. The cylindricalportion of the interior of the line cathode 54 defines, by means ofsurface tension, a reservoir of coating material 58 which wets andmigrates along the conical interior surface of the cathode toward theemitting edge 56. Thus, the migrating material 58 renews the circularedge 56 to keep it appropriately sharp for EV generation.

Generally, for a source that can be fired repeatedly to produce EV's, amigratory conductor is needed on a conductive substrate that has afield-enhancing shape. The sharpened point of a cathode, such as shownin FIG. 4 or 5, may become further sharpened by the effect of themetallic coating wetted thereon being drawn into a microscopic cone bythe applied field. Similarly, the coating material in a tubular cathode,such as shown in FIG. 6, is drawn to the circular edge due to fieldeffects to provide a particularly sharp edge including microscopicemitting cones.

A wide variety of materials can be used to construct wetted cathodes ingeneral. Typically, for room temperature operation of an EV generator,the cathode may be constructed of pointed copper wire coated withmercury. Alternatively, mercury can be coated onto silver or molybdenum.Similarly, gallium indium alloys or tin lead alloys can be used to coata variety of substrate metals to form cathodes. Examples of cathodestructures for use at high temperatures include aluminum coated titaniumcarbide for operations at 600° C., and boron oxide glass coated tungstenin operations at approximately 900° C.

Non-metal conductive coatings may also be used. For example, coatings ofglycerin doped with potassium iodide or sodium iodide, and nitroglycerindoped with nitric acid, have been successfully used with a variety ofmetallic substrates such as copper, nickel, tungsten and molybdenum. Theglycerin is nitrated by including acid, or doped, to impart someconductivity to the organic material. However, it is not necessary todope for conductivity if the coating material is kept to a very thinlayer. Polarization of such material is sufficient to allow the materialto be moved in a field to thus pump the material to a field enhancingtip.

It will be appreciated that operation of a wetted source, particularlyin a reduced ambient pressure environment, even a vacuum, is accompaniedby the wetting material vaporizing, or yielding gaseous products. Thus,the metal-wetting material forms a vapor. Organic or inorganic gases maybe acquired depending on the wetting substance. Field emission isaccompanied by current through the cathode which heats the cathode,causing the vaporization of the wetting material. Field emittedelectrons impact and ionize the vapor particles. The resulting positiveion cloud further enhances field emission to produce an explosive-likerunaway process resulting in a high, local electron density.

Variations of wetted cathodes may enhance migration of wetting material,return evaporated material to the source, keep the field producingstructure sharp and/or help reduce ionization time to allow high pulsingfrequencies to produce EV's. To take advantage of the regenerationprovided by wetting cathodes, the pulse rate of the signal applied tothe cathode to generate EV's must be low enough to allow migration ofthe coating material to restore the point or line between pulses.However, for extended, or line, sources, such as the circular cathode 54of FIG. 6, the pulse rate may be raised to much higher values than ispractical for use with point sources since the complete regeneration ofthe line between pulses by coating migration is not necessary. Someportion of the line cathode is generally left sharp for subsequent EVproduction after production of EV's elsewhere along the line.

FIG. 7 shows an EV generator 60 including a ceramic base 62 having aplanar, or surface, cathode 64 positioned along one surface of the base,and a planar anode, or counterelectrode, 66 positioned along anothersurface of the base generally opposite to the position of the cathode.The cathode 64, which is effectively another form of extended or linesource, may be coated with a metallic hydride, such as zirconium hydrideor titanium hydride, to produce EV's. Such a cathode continues effectiveprovided hydrogen is recharged into the hydride. This can be done byoperating the generator, or source, in a hydrogen atmosphere so that thecathode is operating in the thyratron mode, which is a known hydrideregeneration technique. However, since there is no flow of wettingmaterial onto the cathode base material, after a period of use thecoating material disperses and the source fails to fire. Consequently,in general, the surface source 64 has a shorter effective life thancathodes on which migratory material is deposited, such as those shownin FIGS. 4-6. Additional details of the construction and operation of asurface generator such as illustrated in FIG. 7 are providedhereinafter.

4. Separators

In general, the production of EV's is accompanied by the formation of aplasma discharge, including ions and disorganized electrons, generallywhere the EV's are produced at the cathode, with the plasma chargedensity being at least 10⁶ electron charges per cubic micrometer, andtypically 10⁸ charges per cubic micrometer. In the case of a relativelyshort distance between cathode and anode of a source, the high plasmadensity accompanying the formation of the EV's is usually produced inthe form of a local spark. As the distance between the cathode and theanode is increased, EV production and transmission is also accompaniedby the formation of streamers, that is, excited ions in a gaseous modealong the path of an EV which yield light upon electron transition. Asnoted hereinbefore, an EV itself comprises an extremely high totalcharge density. Typically, a chain ring of ten EV beads, with each beadapproximately 1 micrometer in width, may contain 10¹² electron chargesand, moving at approximately one-tenth the speed of light, may pass apoint in 10⁻¹⁴ seconds, establishing a high current density easilydistinguishable from ordinary electron current. Generally, in the caseof a pulsed source, an EV may be expected to be formed for each pulseapplied to the cathode, in addition to the extraneous charge productionthat may accompany EV production.

The various components of the plasma discharge present when EV's areformed are considered as contaminants to the EV, and are preferablystripped away from the EV propagation. Such stripping can beaccomplished by enclosing the EV source in a separator, positioning anaperture or small guide groove between the source and the extractorelectrode, or anode. A counterelectrode is provided on the enclosure foruse in the formation of the EV's. The discharge contaminants arecontained within the separator while the EV's may exit through theaperture or groove toward an extractor electrode.

An EV generator shown generally at 70 in FIG. 8, includes acylindrically-symmetric and pointed cathode 72, which may be mercurywetted copper, for example, and a plate anode 74, and is equipped with acylindrically-symmetric separator 76. The separator 76 includes agenerally tubular member, constructed preferably of a dielectric, forexample a ceramic such as aluminum oxide, that tapers beyond the pointof the cathode 72 in a region 78 including a frustoconical exteriorsurface and a frustoconical interior surface of smaller angle of taperto form an aperture 80 defined by a relatively sharp circular end of thetubular member. When a dielectric is used for the tunnel 76, acounterelectrode 82 is formed on the exterior of the tunnel andmaintained at a positive potential relative to the cathode 72, while theanode 74 is positive relative to the counterelectrode. Typically, thevoltage values may be in the range of 4 kv, 2 kv and zero on theextractor anode 74, the counterelectrode 82 and the cathode 72,respectively. The electrode 82 not only provides the relative positivepotential for the formation of the EV's but acts as a counterelectrodefor propagating the EV's through the nozzle aperture 80, while thedisplaced anode 74 represents a load, for example, and may be replacedby any other type of exploiting load. Other materials, such assemiconductors, may be used to form the tunnel 76 with appropriateelectrical isolation from the cathode 72. In such cases, the tunnelmaterial itself can serve as a counterelectrode.

Since an EV induces an image charge in a dielectric separator 76, the EVtends to be attracted to the dielectric surface. However, the variouscontaminants of the formation discharge, including electrons and ions,may be repelled by the tunnel separator 76, at the same time the EV'sare attracted to the tunnel. Thus, the EV's may emerge through theaperture 80 free of the discharge contaminants, which are retainedwithin the separator 76. The cross section of the aperture 80 must besuch as to allow emergence of EV's while at the same time providing asufficiently narrow channel to retain the discharge contaminants andprevent their passage through the aperture.

The construction of the generator 70 with the tubular separator 76having a small aperture 80 is relatively convenient for use with variousenvironments between the cathode 72 and the anode 74. For example, theexit side of the nozzle formed by the separator 76 with the aperture 80may be subject to vacuum or selected gas pressure as desired. Theformation side of the nozzle, that is, the interior of the separator 76in which the cathode 72 is positioned, may be vented to either vacuum ora gaseous region as selected, different from the exit side environment.Appropriate pumping can be utilized to maintain the desiredenvironments.

While the separator 76 illustrated and described hereinabove is shapedlike a funnel, I have found that a square box (not shown) having a smallaperture, similar to aperture 80, for the EV's to exit, works quite wellin separating the EV's from the remainder of the electrical discharge,which as stated before, may include electrons, positive and negativeions, neutral particles and photons.

FIG. 9 shows an EV generator, indicated generally at 84, equipped with aseparator designed for use in a planar construction for an EV generator.A dielectric base 86 is fitted with a surface cathode 88. A separator inthe form of a dielectric cover 90 extends over and beyond the cathode88, and terminates in a sloped exterior surface which, coupled with asloped interior surface of smaller angle of slope, provides a relativelysharp edge suspended a short distance 92 above the surface of the base86. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the separator 90 is also pointed in thetransverse direction at the edge toward the spacing 92, and featureswalls 94 which cooperate with the sloped interior surface to define theperipheral limits of the region effectively enclosed between theseparator cover and the base 86. The outer flat surface of the cover 90is partially coated with a counterelectrode 96, which extends downwardlyapproximately two-thirds the length of the sloped outer surface of thecover to provide a relative positive potential for the formation andpropagation of EV's from the cathode 80. A target anode 98 is positionedon the opposite side of the ceramic base 86 to collect propagated EV's,and may be replaced by some other load used in manipulating and/orexploiting the generated EV's.

The separator 90 functions essentially like the separator 76 of FIG. 8in that the EV's generated by the cathode 88 in FIG. 9 are attractedforward by the counterelectrode 96 of the cover 90 toward the opening92, while extraneous discharge contaminants are retained within thecover 96. Alternatively, the cathode 88 may be set in a groove (notshown) extending beyond the back of the cover 90, and the cover set downon the base 86. A small groove may be provided on the underside of thecover, or on the base, in the area 92 to allow passage of EV's out ofthe cover enclosure. The groove of the cathode 88 may continue throughthe area 92 to allow exit of the EV's from under the cover 90.Additionally, the counterelectrode 96 may be deleted if the anode 98extends to the left, as seen in FIG. 9, to underlie the area 92.

The base 86 and the separator cover 90 may be constructed from ceramicmaterials such as aluminum oxide, and the counterelectrode 96 and theanode 98 may be formed from a conductive layer of silver fired onto theceramic substrate, for example. The cathode 88 may be formed of silverfired onto the dielectric, and wetted with mercury, for example.

Other coating processes for constructing conductor patterns, such asthermal evaporation or sputtering, may be used to form thecounterelectrodes of the two separators 76 and 90 shown in FIGS. 8 and9, respectively. The openings provided by the separators must besufficiently small to permit emergence of the EV's while stripping awaythe discharge contaminants. For example, the aperture 80 of theseparator 76 in FIG. 8 may be approximately 0.05 mm in diameter for thegenerator operating at 2 kv, and with a circular lip thickness ofapproximately 0.025 cm. The lip and opening sizes provided by the coverseparator 90 of FIG. 9 may be comparable. In either case, smalleropenings can tolerate smaller voltages and still filter contaminantseffectively. Generally, the exact cross-sectional shape of the separatoris not of primary importance for the filtering function.

5. RC Guides

In general, an anode cooperates with a cathode in the application ofappropriate electrical potential to generate EV's, and may serve as thetarget or load of the generator, and actually be impacted by EV's. Ingeneral, a counterelectrode is not impacted by EV's, but is used in themanipulation and control of EV's, and may be used in the generation ofEV's. For example, the counterelectrodes 82 and 96 of FIGS. 8 and 9,respectively, contribute to drawing the EV's forward away from theregion of EV generation at the respective cathodes, but the EV'scontinue on to possibly strike the anodes 74 and 98, respectively,although both counterelectrodes 82 and 96 also provide the EV formationvoltage. As discussed more fully hereinafter, an EV may move along orclose to the surface of a dielectric material placed in the path ofpropagation of the EV. If a ground plane, or counterelectrode, at anappropriate positive potential, relative to the generating cathode, ispositioned on the opposite side of the dielectric material, the EVpropagating on the cathode side of the dielectric material will tend tobe attracted to the counterelectrode through the dielectric, and thisattraction may be used to influence the path of the EV along thedielectric as discussed more fully hereinafter, particularly in the caseof RC (resistance/capacitance) guides for EV's.

If an EV is directed toward a dielectric structure, backed by acounterelectrode or anode at relative positive potential, the EV maymove on the surface of the dielectric in an apparent random fashion.However, the path of the EV is determined by local electrical effects,such as the dielectric polarizability, surface charge, surfacetopography, thickness of the dielectric and the initial potential of thebacking electrode along with its conductivity. The major mechanism thataffects the movement of EV's on dielectric surfaces is thepolarizability of the dielectric producing an image force that attractsthe EV to the dielectric, but doesn't move the EV forward. Even in theabsence of a counterelectrode at an appropriate potential, the inducedimage charge tends to attract an EV to the dielectric surface. The EVcannot go into the dielectric. Consequently, an EV will tend to moveacross the surface of a dielectric and, when an edge or corner of thedielectric material is reached, the EV will, in general, go around thatcorner. As noted hereinbefore, EV's tend to follow fine structuraldetails, and this is evident from the guiding effect caused by surfacescratches and imperfections. Generally, any intersection of twodielectric surfaces or planes having an angle of intersection less than180° will tend to guide the EV along the line of intersection.

FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrate an EV guide component shown generally at 100,including a dielectric base member 102 featuring a smooth groove 104providing an enhanced guide effect. A counterelectrode plate 106 coversmost of the opposite surface of the base 102 from the groove 104, andmay be maintained at relative positive potential with respect to theemitting cathode, which is generally directed toward one end of thegroove. The guide component 100 may be utilized, for example, inconjunction with an Ev generator as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, and aseparator such as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. However, such a guide member100 may be utilized with virtually any EV source and other components aswell. An optional top cover 108, of dielectric material as well, isillustrated in FIG. 11 for placing over the groove 104, in contact withthe base 102.

The width and depth of the groove 104 need only be a few micrometers forguiding small numbers of EV's. However, as the power to be handledincreases and the number of EV's increases, crowding may become aproblem and it is necessary to increase the size of the groove. Thecross-sectional shape of the groove 104 is not of primary importance inits ability to guide EV's. With EV's generated by a generator such asshown either in FIGS. 1 and 2 or in FIG. 3, and coupled to a guidingcomponent by a separator such as illustrated in FIGS. 8 or 9 and 10, andwith the guiding component, such as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, comprisinga fused silica or aluminum oxide dielectric base with an overallthickness of 0.0254 cm and having a groove 104 of 0.05 mm in depth and0.05 mm in width, the guiding action is demonstrable.

FIGS. 13 and 14 show a variation of a planar guide component, indicatedgenerally at 110 and including a dielectric base 112 with a dielectrictile 114 positioned on and appropriately bonded to the base. Theintersection of the surface of the base 112 with the surface of the tilemeeting the base at a 90° angle of intersection (that is, one half of agroove such as 104 in FIGS. 11 and 12) would provide a 90° "V" alongwhich EV's could propagate. The guiding effect, however, is enhanced bya beveled edge as shown, set at approximately 45°, along the tilesurface intersecting the base to form a groove indicated generally at116. A counterelectrode plate 118 is positioned along the oppositesurface of the base 112 from the tile 114. A collection of tiles such as114, complete with beveled edges to form grooves such as 116, may bepositioned along the base 112 in a mosaic to define an extended guidepath. The guide component 110 may be utilized with virtually any othercomponents used to generate, manipulate and/or exploit EV's.

The guiding action on an EV may be enhanced by use of a tubulardielectric guide so that the EV may move along the interior of the tube.FIG. 15 illustrates a tubular dielectric guide member 120 having aninterior, smooth passage of circular cross section 122 and coated on theoutside with a counterelectrode 124. The cross-sectional area of theinterior channel 122 should be slightly larger than the EV bead or beadchain to be guided thereby for best propagation properties.

The glass tube 34 with the ground plane 36 encircling the tube, shownwith the generator 20 in FIG. 3, is a guide of the type shown in FIG.15. For different applications, the glass tube 34 in FIG. 3 may bereplaced by a guide of another type.

FIG. 16 illustrates a guide member constructed generally as the reverseof that of FIG. 14, namely, a dielectric tubular member 126 having aninterior channel 128 coated with an interior counterelectrode 130, andproviding the exterior, generally cylindrical surface 132 as a guidesurface in conjunction with the dielectric structure itself and thecounterelectrode 130. In this instance, an EV may move along theexterior surface 132, attracted to the guide member by the image chargegenerated due to the presence of the EV, and also by the effect of thecounterelectrode 130 maintained at a relative positive potential.

In general, the dielectric guides of FIGS. 11-16, as well as otherdielectric components, can be appropriately doped for limitedconductivity to limit or control stray charge, as discussed more fullyhereinafter. An EV moving within the guide structure of an RC guidedevice provides a temporary charge on the guide as noted hereinbefore,and another EV will not enter the immediate high charge region of theguide due to the first EV, but can follow after the charge on thedielectric dissipates after passage of the first EV.

If the groove, or tunnel, used as a guide through or across a dielectricmaterial is too narrow in cross section compared to the size of an EV,the EV passing along the guide may effectively cut into the guidematerial to widen the path. Once a channel has been bored out by an EVin this manner, no further damage is done to the dielectric material bysubsequent EV's propagating along the guide. Typically, a channel ofapproximately 20 micrometers in lateral dimension will accommodate EVpassage without boring by the EV. This is about the lateral dimension ofan EV bead chain formed into a ring that can be produced with a givensource. The guide groove can be made larger or smaller in cross sectionto match larger or smaller EV's depending on the circumstances of theirproduction.

6. Gaseous Guides

Any of the guide structures illustrated in FIGS. 11-16 may be utilizedeither in vacuum or in a selected gaseous environment. However, the useof gas at low pressures in guide members can produce another beneficialeffect in the manner of guiding EV's formed into a chain of beads, forexample.

In some instances, EV's formed from high powered sources may be composedof beads in a chain configuration. Such a chain group may not propagatewell on a particular solid guide surface due to the very tight couplingof the beads in the chain and the disruption that surface irregularitiescaused in the propagation of the configuration. In a low pressure gasatmosphere, typically in the range starting at about 10⁻³ torr andextending through 10⁻² torr, the EV chain is lifted a relatively shortdistance from the dielectric surface and no longer interacts in adisruptive fashion with the surface, with the result that transmissionefficiency is increased. Then, in general, for a given applied voltage,EV's can be formed with greater separation between cathode andgenerating anode, and can traverse greater distances between electrodes.Evidence from witness plates appears to indicate that, moving relativelyfree of a solid surface, a bead chain tends to unravel and propagagegenerally as a circular ring, lying in a plane perpendicular to thedirection of propagation. In general, as the gas pressure is increased,the EV may be lifted further from the solid surface. For gas pressuresabove a few torr, EV's in general move off of the solid surfaceentirely, and the flat solid surface no longer functions as a guide.However, a guiding effect may still be realized with such higher gaspressure for EV's moving along the interior of a closed guide, such asthat illustrated in FIG. 15.

Although a wide variety of gases appear to be useful to produce thelifting effect on EV's and EV configurations, the high atomic numbergases such as xenon and mercury perform particularly well. The enhancedguiding action on such EV configurations and single EV's works well onthe inside of dielectric guide enclosures such as those illustrated inFIGS. 11-15, and also works well on single plane surfaces.

FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate a guide device constructed to utilize a"cushion" of gas to maintain EV's lifted from the guiding surfaces whileyet providing a groove, or trough-like guiding structure. The "gas"guide, shown generally at 136, includes a trough formed from adielectric block 138, which may, for example, be in the form of a glazecoated, porous ceramic. The dielectric block 138 features acounterelectrode 140 on the bottom of the block, and further hascoatings of resistor material 142, described hereinafter in the sectionentitled "Surface Charge Suppression," along the interior lower portionsof the trough, or groove, to resist movement of EV's along the so-coatedsurface out of the trough provided by the block 138. The guide component136 is connected to a gas communicating line 144 by means of a fitting146, and which features an internal passage 148 through which gasselectively communicated to the guide may pass to the bottom of theblock 138 from a source (not shown). The bottom of the dielectric block138 is not glazed at the intersection with the fitting passage 148 sothat gas may enter the porous interior of the block. The glaze coatingand the resistor material coating 142 are scratched, or cut, along thebottom of the V-shaped trough to permit gas to emerge from the interiorof the dielectric block 138. The entire arrangement is enclosed forselective control of the environment, and a vacuum pump system isapplied to the enclosure to pump away the gas emerging through the block138. Thus, gas introduced into the porous block 138 through the fitting146 emerges along the bottom of the trough, and, in dispersing upwardlythroughout the trough, provides a gas pressure gradient. Theconcentration of the gas thus varies from heavy to light going from thebottom of the trough upwardly. A pointed cathode 150, such as amercury-wetted copper wire, extends downwardly toward the bottom of thetrough at a short distance from the beginning of the resistor coating142, and may be maintained with the cathode terminal point a shortdistance above the dielectric material of the trough.

In operation, a negative pulse signal of about 2 kv (or higher if thecathode tip is not sufficiently sharp) may be applied to the cathode 150while the counterelectrode 140 is maintained at ground potential, thatis, relatively positive, to generate EV's at the tip of the cathode wellwithin the depth of the trough formed by the dielectric block 138, wherethe gas pressure is highest. The EV's propagate along the length of thetrough as selected gas is introduced into the trough through thecommunication line 144, and the EV's lift off in the gas layer justabove the bottom of the trough, still attracted to the dielectric block138 by the image charge, or force, of the dielectric material and thepotential of the counterelectrode 140. The wedge-shaped gas pressuregradient provided by the trough contains, or "focuses," the gas cushioneffect to help keep the EV's within the confines of the trough. However,a sufficient gradient would be provided even if the trough were replacedwith a flat surface having a similar cut in the glaze coating and theresistor material coating 142 so that, and further in view of the imageforce effect and counterelectrode potential, EV's would be guided alongthe dielectric block, just generally above the cuts in the coatings.Further, from the foregoing discussions concerning the effect of low gaspressure on EV propagation over dielectric surfaces, it will beappreciated that EV's will lift over such a guide surface with nogradient present in the gas pressure.

7. Optical Guides

An EV moving through a purely, low pressure, gaseous phase where no RCguiding structures are present, is accompanied by the formation of avisible streamer. A narrow beam of light appears to precede thestreamer, and may be due to ionization of the gas by the streamer. Inany event, the EV follows the path defined by the streamer, and thestreamer appears to follow the propagation of the light. Such an effectalso occurs, for example, when EV's move over a guide surface in agaseous environment, such as an environment of xenon gas. When an EV ispropagated on or along the surface, it travels in a straight line if thesurface is very clean. (Surface charge effects dissipate after an EV ispropagated in a gas environment.) The forward-looking light from thestreamer defines a straight path followed by the streamer and therefore,the EV. If this light path is deflected by objects on the surface, thestreamer will deflect, and the EV will follow the new path. Only a smalldisturbance is needed to start the change in path. Once the path isdescribed, it will remain for future use as long as the streamerpersists.

FIG. 19 illustrates an optical guide for use in a gaseous environment. Adielectric plate 152 has a path 154 schematically noted thereon,proceeding from left to right as viewed in FIG. 19. The path 154 may bea scratch on the surface of the plate 152 or an actual guide groove inthe plate. A counterelectrode (not visible), at an appropriatepotential, may be positioned on the underside of the dielectric material152 to aid in the propagation of EV's over the dielectric surface. Areflecting surface 156 is positioned to intersect the EV path along thedielectric plate 152, indicated by a dashed line. The surface 156reflects the light incident thereon, apparently according to the laws ofoptics, with the result that the EV path is likewise deflected asindicated. A second reflecting surface 158 intersects the new, deflectedlight path, and deflects the path to a new direction. Consequently, anEV will trace the light path, indicated by the dashed line, guided byboth reflectors.

Each of the optically reflecting devices 156 and 158 is preferably afront surface reflector of high dielectric constant material with goodreflection in the ultraviolet region. The angle of reflection determinesthe eventual EV path in each case. The change in direction of the lightpath effects a change in direction of the streamer, and the EV followsthe streamer along the path defined by the light. A gas pressure ofseveral torr can be utilized above the dielectric surface where the EV'spropagate and are appropriately guided. The reflectors 156 and 158 needonly be a fraction of a millimeter on a side.

The optical guide system illustrated in FIG. 19, or any variationthereof, can be utilized with any of the possible EV generators andother components. Further, optical reflectors such as the reflectingdevices 156 and 158 can be utilized with any other component. Forexample, a guide system using tubular guides such as shown in FIG. 15can incorporate optical reflectors at the ends of the tubular guides.

8. LC Guides

In general, as an EV approaches any circuit element, the potential uponthat element is depressed. The depressed potential makes the elementless attractive to the EV so that, if there is a more attractivedirection for the EV, a steering action is available. Inductive elementsare particularly susceptible to the change in potential in the presenceof an EV, and this effect may be utilized in providing an LC(inductance/capacitance) guide for EV's.

FIG. 20 shows an exploded view of a three-stage quadrupole EV structure,indicated generally at 160 and including three guide elements 162mutually separated by two spacers 164. Each of the guide elements 162includes an outer frame and four pole elements 162a, 162b, 162c and 162dextending toward the center of the frame, but ending short thereof toprovide a central passage area. EV's, or EV chains, enter the array ofguide elements from one end of the array, as indicated by arrow C,generally in a direction normal to the plane of orientation of each ofthe guide elements.

As illustrated, the four poles 162a-d are arranged in mutuallyorthogonal pairs of opposing poles. There is sufficient inductance ineach of the poles to allow a potential depression therein as the EVapproaches. The closer an EV passes to a given pole, the greater thepotential depression. Thus, for example, an EV approaching closer to thelower pole 162a than to the upper pole 162c causes a greater potentialdepression in the lower pole than in the opposite, upper pole. Theresult is that the EV is attracted more to the farther pole 162c than tothe nearer pole 162a. Consequently, a net force is applied to the EVcausing it to move upwardly, tending to balance the potentialdepressions in the two opposed poles 162a and 162c. A similar resultoccurs in the opposed poles to the sides, 162b and 162d, if the EV movescloser to one of these poles than the other. Thus, a net restorativeforce urges the EV toward the center of the distance between the twoopposed pole faces in either the horizontal or vertical directions. Anyovershoot by the EV from the center portion in either direction againunbalances the potential depressions and causes a restorative forcetending to center the EV between the poles. It will be appreciated thatthe net restorative force will also be generated if the EV strays awayfrom the center of the passage between the pole faces in a directionother than horizontal or vertical, causing unbalanced potentialdepressions among the four poles so that such restorative force willalways have vertical and horizontal components determined by theimbalance of potential between the opposed quadrupoles in each of thetwo pairs.

Such restorative force tending to center the EV in its passage through agiven guide element 162 may thus be provided with each guide element.With an array of such quadrupole guide elements 162, restorative forceswill thus be provided throughout the length of the array with the resultthat the quadrupole element array acts as an EV guide, tending tomaintain the path of the EV centered between opposed quadrupole faces.The spacers 164 merely provide a mechanism for maintaining thequadrupoles of adjacent guidance elements 162 separated from each other.The entire array of guide elements 162 and spacers 164 may beconstructed as a laminar device, with guidance elements in contact withadjacent spacers, for example. Further, it will be appreciated that theLC guide of FIG. 20 may be extended any length as applicable withadditional guide elements 162 and spacers 164.

An LC guide, such as that shown in FIG. 20, may be made in a variety ofshapes, and utilizing different numbers of poles. In practice, the polesas illustrated in FIG. 20 resemble delay lines along the axis of a pairof opposed poles. After an EV passes a set of poles, there will be arebound of the potential therein, depending upon the time constant ofthe LC circuit. Eventually, the oscillations in the potential willsubside. The timing function of the guidance elements must be chosen toaccommodate the passage of subsequent EV's, for example. Further, itwill be appreciated that the LC guide of FIG. 20 operates without theneed of producing specific image-like forces, as in the case of adielectric of an RC guide, for correcting the position of an EV as itpasses therethrough, although the LC guide mechanism can be construed asgenerating image forces on a gross scale. Indeed, the guidance elements162 and the spacers 164 are conductors rather than dielectrics.

The coupling between the moving EV and the guidance structure 160dictates limits in the size of the structure for a given EV size, thatis, EV charge. If the guidance structure 160 is too large in transversecross section, for example, the structure will not respond adequately tocontrol the EV; a too small structure will not allow adequate turningtime and space for the EV path to be adjusted. Whether the guidancestructure 160 is too small or too large, its coupling with an EV willresult in an unstable mode of propagation for the EV and destruction ofthe EV and damage to the guide structure. A factor that may be utilizedin the design of an LC guide 160 such as that illustrated in FIG. 20 isto consider the poles to be quarter wave structures at the approachfrequency of the EV to be guided. This frequency is determined primarilyby the velocity of the EV and the distance between the EV and thesteering, or pole, elements 162a-d. Since the diameter of the guide 160is related to the coupling coefficient, there is an interrelationshipbetween the diameter of the guide and the spacing of the elements162a-d. In this type of guide, the quarter wave elements 162a-d can beoperated at dc or a fixed potential without charging effects. While anLC guide can, in general, be made as large or small as necessary toaccommodate and couple to the particular size EV's to be guided, thevelocity range for propagation of EV's to be guided by a given LC guideis not arbitrarily wide.

It will be appreciated that the larger the number of EV's in a chain tobe guided, for example, the greater will be the power level to beaccommodated by the guiding device. Generally, an EV requiring an RCguide transverse cross section of 20 micrometers would require an LCguide slightly larger. The spacing between the guidance electrodes, orpoles, such as 162a-d of FIG. 20, would also be in the vicinity of 20micrometers. Such sized elements cannot be expected to handle vary highpower. Although multiple, parallel units can be utilized to guide a fluxof EV's, it may be more economical of material use and processing toscale up the EV structure to fit a larger guide. Such scaling isprimarily a function of the EV generator or the charge combiningcircuits following the generators when multiple generators are used.

The type of LC guide illustrated in FIG. 20 may be provided in manygeometric and electric variations. However, that type of structure ispreferred for relatively large sizes, and construction by laminationtechniques. Different construction techniques are applicable to smallerstructures and particularly to those amenable to film processes. Anexploded view of an LC guide made by film construction is illustratedgenerally at 170 in FIG. 21.

The planar type LC EV guide 170 includes three guide layers comprisingan upper guide 172 and a lower guide 174, and an intermediate guidesystem 176 interposed between the upper and lower guides. The upperguide 172 comprises a pair of elongate members 178 joined by crossmembers 180 in a ladder-like construction. Similarly, the lower guideincludes longitudinally-extending members 182 joined by cross members184. The intermediate guide system 176 includes two elongate members 186with each such member having extending therefrom an array of stubs, orpole pieces, 188.

With the three guide members 172-176 joined together in laminarconstruction, the upper and lower cross members 180 and 184,respectively, cooperate with the intermediate system pole pieces 188 toprovide a tunnel-like passageway through the array of cross members andpole pieces. In such construction, he lateral confinement of the EVpropagation path is obtained by the conductive pole pieces 188resembling quarter wavelength lines. The vertical confinement, asillustrated, is accomplished by the cross members 180 and 184, eachoperating as a shorted one-half wavelength line. The guide structure 170effectively operates as a form of slotted wave guide or delay structure.

Since the guide structure 170 is very active electrically and can beexpected to radiate strongly, the structure may be enclosed withconductive planes on both top and bottom to suppress radiation.Conductive radiation shields 190 and 192 are illustrated to bepositioned as the top and bottom layers, respectively, of the laminarconstruction. Since there is no fundamental need for potentialdifference between the guide members 172-176, they may be connectedtogether at their edges, but, of course, can be maintained isolated fromeach other with spacers if desired.

In general, the EV's produced in a burst by most generators are nothighly regulated as to spacing between the EV's, although in someinstances, the spacing of generated EV's can be affected. However, LCguides provide some synchronization of EV's passing therethrough. Themean velocity of EV's or EV chains passing through an LC guide is lockedto the frequency of the guide, and the spacing of the individual EV's orEV chains is forced to fall into synchronization with the structuralperiod of the guide. The resulting periodic electric field produced inthe guide tends to bunch the EV train within that field by acceleratingthe slow EV's and retarding the fast EV's.

As the initial EV's move into an LC guide, there is a shrot time periodwhen the electromagnetic field level is too low for strongsynchronization. As the level builds up, the synchronization becomesmore effective. The "Q", or figure of merit of the guide as a cavity,determines the rate of build up and decay. Too large a Q will causebreakdown of the cavity. There is an implied optimum filling factor foran LC guide as a synchronizer. With low filling, the synchronization isnot effective, and with high filling, there is a danger of breakdown andinterference with the guide function.

Better synchronization may be achieved when the synchronizer is moreloosely coupled to the EV's than the LC guides of FIGS. 20 and 21, forexample. Such loose coupling can be accomplished by using a slottedcavity providing small slots on one side of the guide. Then, the devicewould operate at a lower frequency and have a much broader passband.Such a structure is disclosed hereinafter as an RF source.

9. Surface Sources

FIGS. 22-24 give three views of an EV generator comprising a surfacesource in conjunction with a guide component. In general, guiding EV'son or near surfaces requires coupling them from the source, or priorcomponent, to the surface in question. In the case of a generatorutilizing cathodes such as illustrated in FIGS. 4-6, for example, it ispossible to locate the source a short distance from the propagatingsurface, and achieve workable coupling. In the apparatus illustrated inFIGS. 22-24, the source of EV's is integral with the guide device alongwhich the EV's are to be propagated for enhanced coupling.

In particular, the generator and guide combination is shown generally at200, and includes a dielectric base 202 featuring a guide groove 204 anda surface, or planar, cathode 206 embedded within the guide groovetoward one end thereof. A surface anode/counterelectrode 208 ispositioned on the opposite side of the dielectric base 202 from thegroove 204 and the cathode 206, and serves to effect generation of theEV's and propagation thereof along the groove. An optional top cover 210is shown in FIG. 24 for positioning against the grooved surface of thebase 202, and can be used without sealing provided the surfaces aresufficiently flat. To avoid collecting charge in the covered guidechannel, the cover 210 is coated with a charge dispersing material suchas doped alumina, as discussed more fully below.

In practice, the dielectric base 202 may be an aluminum oxide ceramicplate or substrate with a thickness of approximately 0.25 mm and a guidegroove 204 with depth and width approximately 0.1 mm each. The metalliccoatings for the cathode 206 and counterelectrode 208 may be of silverpaste compound fired onto the ceramic, for example. Mercury may bewetted onto the silver cathode by applying the mercury with a rubbingaction. With such dimensions, the operating voltage to produce EV's andpropagate them along the guide path 204 is approximately 500 volts. Useof thin film processing methods to produce a thinner dielectricsubstrate 202 allows the operating voltage to be lower. With such filmtechniques, aluminum oxide may be utilized for the dielectric andevaporated molybdenum for the metallic electrodes 206 and 208, all beingdeposited on a substrate of aluminum oxide. In such case, mercury canstill be used for migratory cathode material since it can be made to wetmolybdenum by ion bombardment sufficiently for such an application. Suchbombardment may be by direct bombardment of the molybdenum surface.Alternatively, argon ions may be bombarded with mercury in the vicinityof the molybdenum surface, thereby cleaning the molybdenum surface forwetting. A small amount of nickel may be evaporated onto the molybdenumsurface to facilitate the cleaning of the surface by direct or indirectmercury ion bombardment, since mercury and molybdenum do not have highsolubility. The combination of molybdenum and mercury is preferred oversilver, or copper, and mercury because silver and copper are too solublein mercury for use in a film circuit since they can be rapidly dissolvedaway.

Since the cathode source 206 is effectively integral with the dielectricsubstrate 202 in the guide groove 204, the cathode is appropriatelycoupled thereto, that is, transition of an EV from the cathodeproduction region into and along the guide groove takes place withminimal energy loss by the EV. Additionally, the cathode 206, wetted bymercury or the like, features a self-sharpening or regeneration actionto maintain appropriately shape its leading edge, at which EV's aregenerated. Further, the cathode 206 is an extended, or line, source sothat pulse repetition rates to produce EV's can be raised to much highervalues than in the case of a single point source because theregeneration process involving migration of liquid metal is notnecessary between all pulses in the case of an extended source as notedhereinabove. It will be appreciated that the extended cathode 206 isidentical to the cathode 64, illustrated in FIG. 7, which is alsomounted directly on a ceramic base 62. Operation of such extendedcathodes relies on the fringing field effects at the edges of thecathodes that cause a sharpening effect on the mobile cathode wettingmaterial. Consequently, one or more relatively sharp structures canalways be relied on for field emission that is responsible for the EVinitiation, and therefore the operating voltage of such a source isrelatively low.

10. Surface Charge Suppression

After an EV is generated, it may loss electrons due to relatively poorbinding of such electrons at the time of formation, or by some otherprocess such as passage of the EV over a rough surface. In the lattercase in particular, the lost electrons may distribute themselves alongthe surface and produce a retarding field effect on subsequent EV'spassing in the vicinity of the charged surface area. Several techniquesare available for removing this resulting surface charge.

The dielectric substrate, or base, employed in an EV generator or RCguide, for example, experiencing the surface charge buildup may berendered sufficiently conductive so that the surface charge is conductedthrough the substrate to the anode or counterelectrode. The resistivityof the base must be low enough to discharge the collected surface chargebefore the passage of the next EV following the one that charged thesurface. However, the resistivity of the surface cannot be arbitrarilylow because the subsequent EV would be destroyed by excessiveconductivity to the anode or counterelectrode.

To achieve the desired degree of bulk conductivity of the substrate, thedielectric material, such as aluminum oxide, can be coated with any ofthe resistant materials commonly used for thick film resistorfabrication, provided the resistance does not fall much below the rangeof 200 ohms per square. Such a resistive coating is usually composed ofa glass frit having a metallic component included therein, and isapplied to the surface by silk screening and subsequent firing at anelevated temperature. However, where intense EV activity occurs with theutilization of high fields and possible high thermal gradients, suchglassy materials tend to break down and are therefore unsatisfactory. Insuch cases in particular, a film of aluminum oxide doped with chromium,tungsten or molybdenum, for example, may be added to the dielectriccomponent to provide a sufficiently conductive material, therebyachieving the desired level of bulk conductivity of the dielectric. Theeffectiveness of this procedure is enhanced by decreasing the thicknessof the substrate.

The photoemission spectrum from a decaying EV is rich in ultravioletlight and soft X-rays if the disturbance of the EV causing the decay issevere. The absorption spectrum of the produced photoconductor should betailored to match these high energy products. Since electron scatter andlow electron mobility in the photoconductor causes the photoconductiveprocess to be slower than the passage of the EV, the discharging of thesurface charge due to the decaying EV occurs slightly after the EV haspassed a particular location on the surface, and therefore poses nothreat of conducting the EV to the anode. In addition to the ultravioletand X-ray emission, part of the electron emission from an EV near asurface excites fluorescence in the dielectric material, and thefluorescent light then contributes to activating the photoconductiveprocess.

Another way of effecting surface charge suppression throughphotoconductivity is by utilizing diamond-like carbon for the dielectriccomponent. Such material has an energy band gap of approximately 3 ev,and thus can be stimulated into photoconduction. Further, such carbonmaterial can be easily doped with carbon in graphitic form to increasethe conductivity of the substrate.

Another technique for dispersing the surface charge is to utilizebombardment induced conductivity. Such conductivity is activated by thehigh speed electrons coming from the EV and penetrating a sufficientlythin layer dielectric to bombard the anode, causing conductivity of thedielectric applied to the anode. The conductivity of the dielectric iseffectively increased as the high velocity electron stream is turnedinto a large number of low velocity electrons in the dielectric. Thedielectric material is appropriately optimized for such process by beingsufficiently thin, with few trap sites. The trap sites may be initiallycleared thermally or optically, and are cleared by the electric fieldduring operation.

In general, the geometry of the dielectric substrate may influence theeffectiveness of making the substrate conductive to suppress surfacecharge, as in the cases of photoconductivity and bombardment inducedconductivity techniques, for example.

11. Launchers

In some applications or structures, it is necessary or desirable topropagate an EV across a gap in vacuum or a gaseous environment. Forexample, an EV may be launched across a gap separating a cathode and ananode or guide structure. The launching of an EV across a gap may beaccomplished by applying an appropriate voltage to attract the EV fromone region to the other. However, such an applied voltage can representa loss in power for the system or the perhaps unwanted energy gain forthe EV. The required applied voltage may be reduced to minimize thesystem energy loss by inducing the EV to leave the cathode region andenter into a counterelectrode region, for example, without excessiveenergy gain. This may be accomplished by propagating the EV across aregion where the field is high at the desired applied voltage so thatthe field strips the EV from the surface along which it was travelingand to which it was attached.

FIG. 25 illustrates a launcher construction, shown generally at 216,designed to launch EV's across a gap between an EV generator 218 and anEV guide, for example 220. The generator 218 includes a dielectric basewhich is generally tubular, but closes at its forward end in a conicalstructure terminating in a point 222. A counterelectrode 224 is formedwithin the dielectric base by conductor material coating the interiorsurface of the base throughout the conical region thereof and extendingpartly along the cylindrical portion of the base. A portion of theexterior of the dielectric base is coated with conductor material toform a cathode 226. The cathode 226 extends along the cylindricalportion of the base and onto the conical end of the base, but does notextend as far along the base longitudinally as does the counterelectrode224. By terminating the cathode 226 short of the end of the conical tip222 the leading edge of the cathode, at which EV's are formed, ismaintained relatively close to the anode 224. Also, the truncatedcathode 226 features a larger EV-producing area than would be the casewith the cathode extending to the tip 222 of the base. The fringingfield effect around the leading edge of the cathode 226 close to theanode 224 is used in the production of the EV's. The counterelectrodeextends farther to the left within the cylindrical portion of the basethan the cathode coats the cylindrical exterior of the base.

The tubular guide member 220, which is generally constructed like thetubular guide illustrated in FIG. 15, is coated on its exterior surfacewith conductor material to form a counterelectrode 228 which extendsthroughout most, but not all, of the length of the guide member. Thecounterelectrode 228 does not extend to the ends of the guide member 220lest the EV's propagate onto the counterelectrode. The end of the guidemember 220 facing the generator 218 features an internal conical surface230 so that the generator tip 222 may be positioned within the conicalend of the guide member while still maintaining a spacing between thetwo bodies. The guide member 220 may also be constructed to circumscribethe generator 218, provided the counterelectrode 228 is kept back fromthe region of the cathode 226.

In operation, an appropriate potential difference is applied between thecathode 226 and the counterelectrode 224 of the generator 218 togenerate one or more EV's which leave the forward end of the cathode andtravel toward the tip 222, under the influence of the field establishedby the potential difference. It is intended that the EV's leave thegenerator 218 and enter the interior of the guide member 220.Thereafter, the EV's may propagate along the interior of the guidemember 220, under the influence, at least in part, of the fieldestablished by the guide member counterelectrode 228 generally asdiscussed hereinbefore. The conical geometry of the generator end, andthe relative positioning of the generator cathode 226 andcounterelectrode 224 result in the EV's experiencing a large field atthe generator tip 222 causing the EV's to detach from the base of thegenerator 218. The EV's are thus effectively ejected from the generatortip 222 at the beginning of the guide member 220 and continue along, nowpropagating under the influence of the guide member.

In practice, the cathode 226 may be appropriately wetted with a liquidmetal conductor as discussed hereinbefore. The guide membercounterelectrode 228 may be operated at the same potential as thegenerator counterelectrode 224, but other potentials can be used. Theextraction voltage applied to the guide counterelectrode 228 is aninherent part of the generation process, and without such voltage thegenerator will not produce EV's effectively. The extraction voltage isnormally ground potential when the cathode 226 is run at some negativevoltage. With a negative-going pulse applied to the cathode 226 togenerate the EV's, the generator counterelectrode 224 may be operated atground potential. The mobile wetting metal is drawn to a thin ring atthe end of the cathode 226 nearest the tip 222. EV's are generatedaround the cathode region so that, at a high pulse rate, there is asteady glow around the cathode end accompanying EV production.

As an example of the construction of a launcher as illustrated in FIG.25, the dielectric body of the generator 218 may be made of aluminumoxide ceramic having a thickness of 0.1 millimeter in the region of theconical end, that is, at the wetted metal cathode edge, and beingsomewhat thicker along the cylindrical shank of the base for additionalmechanical support. The counterelectrode 224 and the cathode 226 may befired on silver paste coating the dielectric surface as discussedhereinbefore. Both the interior and the exterior of the conical end ofthe base 218 are finely pointed to increase the field at the tip 222 tocause detachment of an EV as it approaches that region. The spacingbetween the generator tip 222 and the nearest inside surface of theguide member 220 may be on the order of 1 millimeter or less. With theforegoing dimensions, an EV may be formed and detached at the generatortip 222 with approximately a 500 volt potential difference appliedbetween the generator counterelectrode 224 and cathode 226. A gaspressure on the order of 10⁻² torr lifts the EV off of the dielectricsurface of the generator base 218 and facilitates the transfer andpropagation of the EV to the guide structure 220, and even allows thecathode pulse to be reduced to as low as 200 volts. High molecularweight gases, such as xenon and mercury, are particularly good for thisfunction.

It will be appreciated that the spacing between the guide member 220 andthe generator 218 may be adjusted. In a given application under vacuumor selected gaseous conditions, requiring sealed operation, suchmovements can be effected by a variety of techniques.

While a generally cylindrically symmetric launcher 218 is illustratedand described herein, it will be appreciated that the launcher techniquecan be applied to EV generating and manipulating components of any kind.For example, the planar generator and guide illustrated in FIGS. 22-24may employ the launcher technique to overcome a large gap to asubsequent guide member, for example, particularly when a low voltage isutilized to generate the EV's.

In general, EV's may be formed and launched at lower voltages if thedimensions of the components are decreased. For low voltage operation,it is desirable to use film coating methods to fabricate the components.For example, to construct a planar launcher, an anode may be formed bylithographic processes and then coated with films of dielectric materialsuch as aluminum oxide or diamond like carbon. After the deposition ofthe dielectric material, the cathode material, typically molybdenum, canbe applied to the dielectric material, and then the entire cathode maybe wetted with a liquid metal. While a generally cylindrical launchermay not be so fabricated using film techniques, the electrodes may bepainted on to make such a launcher. With dimensions of approximately 1micrometer thickness for the dielectric base of the generator, an EV maybe formed and launched at a potential difference between the cathode andanode of the generator of less than 100 volts.

Although the preferred embodiments of a launcher for EV's have beenillustrated and described herein, those skilled in the art will realizethat launchers for EV's may be constructed in various other forms.

12. Selectors

As noted hereinbefore, EV's may be generated as beads in a chain withmultiple chains being produced at essentially the same time. It may bedesirable, or necessary, to isolate EV's of a selected total charge foruse in a process or a device. A selector action can help limit thenumber of types of EV's available to provide the desired species. Ingeneral, a variety of EV's may be generated and directed toward an anodeor collector around a sharp edge on a dielectric surface. An extractorfield detaches selected EV's at the dielectric edge and propels themtoward a guide component or other selected region. The extractor voltageas well as a guide voltage may be readily adjusted, in view of thegeometry of the selector, to extract EV's of a chosen charge size.Typically, approximately five EV chains, each with ten or twelve beads,may be extracted at a time, with the number of chains or EV's scaledaccording to the geometry of the extracting apparatus.

A generally cylindrically symmetric selector is shown at 236 in FIG. 26,and includes a generator, or source, 238 constructed generally in theform of the separator shown in FIG. 8. A generally tubular dielectricceramic base 240 has a conical forward end wherein the respective anglesof taper of the exterior and interior conical surfaces cooperate to forma small aperture defined by a circular, sharp edge 242. A conductivecoating, such as a fired on silver paste coating, forms acounterelectrode band 244 about the exterior base of the conical end. Awetted metal cathode 246 is positioned within the tubular dielectricbase 240 with the cathode conical end within the conical structure ofthe dielectric base and facing the aperture defined by the edge 242. Thecathode 246 may be copper wetted with mercury, for example, as describedhereinbefore.

An extractor 248, in the form of a conducting plate with a circularaperture 250, is positioned in front of, centered on and a shortdistance from the source circular edge 242. Beyond the extractor 248 isa tubular guide 252, for example, having a dielectric body with itsexternal surface coated, in part, with a conducting surface to form acounterelectrode 254.

If the generator 238 is operated to produce EV's without the applicationof a voltage on the extractor 248, the EV's move from the region of thecathode tip to the anode 244 by traveling through the hole in the end ofthe ceramic cone and around the sharp edge 242 to the outside of thecone and to the anode. When an appropriate voltage is applied to theextractor, however, a selected portion of the EV's at the dielectricedge 242 are detached from the dielectric and propelled through theextractor opening 250 and to the guide member 252 through which they arepropagated under the influence of the potential placed on the guidecounterelectrode 254.

A planar selector is shown generally at 260 in FIG. 27 and includes agenerally flat dielectric base 262 having an elongate neck 264. Asurface source, or generator, generally of the type shown in FIG. 22, isincorporated in the selector 260 with a planar cathode 266 residing in agroove 268. However, rather than being positioned on the opposite sideof the dielectric base 260, the anode used in the generation of the EV'sis in the form of a coating 270 on the side of a second groove 272 whichintersects with the first groove 268 at an acute angle to form a sharpintersection edge 274. With a potential difference applied only acrossthe cathode 266 and the anode 270, EV's formed at the cathode, which maybe a wetted metal type, move along the groove 268 to its intersectionwith the groove 272, whereupon the EV's turn around the sharp edge 274and proceed to the anode 270.

Two extractor electrodes 276 and 278 are positioned along the outsidesurfaces of the neck 264 of the base 262, on opposite sides thereof andflanking the guide groove 268. Application of an appropriate voltage tothe extractor electrodes 276 and 278 causes selected EV's negotiatingthe sharp edge 274 to be detached therefrom and to proceed along theguide groove 268 and through the region bounded by the extractorelectrodes. As shown in FIG. 28, a counterelectrode 280 underlies aportion of the guide groove 268 along the neck 264 of the dielectricbase to further propel the selected EV's along the guide groove beyondthe extractor electrodes 276 and 278.

As noted hereinbefore, when an EV is traveling along a surface, it isbound thereto by image forces. The magnitude of the binding forcedepends to some extent upon the geometry of the surface through whichthe image force is effected. When the effective area of the surface isreduced, such as the case when an EV is passing about the sharp circularedge 242 of the conical structure of the generator 238 in FIG. 26, orabout the sharp edge 274 of the planar selector 260 in FIG. 27, then theimage force is reduced, and the EV becomes more loosely bound andsensitive to being stripped away by a field provided by means of anotherelectrode with a relatively positive voltage applied to it. The highnegative charge of the EV's moving toward the extractor electrode maymomentarily reduce the potential between the cathode and the extractorbelow the threshold required to extract any of the remaining bead chainsor beads in the group at the edge in question and moving toward thesource anode. After the initial EV structure is extracted and propagatesbeyond the extractor field, a subsequent EV may be extracted from theregion of the dielectric edge.

As an example, in the configuration shown in FIG. 26, for an appliednegative voltage of 2 kv on the cathode, an aperture defined by thesharp edge 242 of approximately 50 micrometers, a cone radius ofequivalent size, and a spacing from the dielectric aperture to theextractor electrode of approximately 1 millimeter, a positive extractionvoltage of approximately 2 kv is needed to detach an EV. The extractionthreshold voltage is critical. For example, when an EV source of suchdimensions is constantly firing and the EV's are being captured entirelyby the anode on the dielectric cone, no extraction to the extractoroccurs with an extraction voltage of 1.9 kv, but EV's are so extractedat a positive extraction voltage of 2.0 kv.

While separators are shown in FIGS. 24-26, as associated with EVgenerators, separators may be incorporated virtually anywhere along aline of EV manipulating components. For example, a separator may followa guide device, or even another separator. Providing EV separators insequence, or even in cascade, permits extraction of EV's of a particularbinding energy from EV's in a wide range of binding energies.

13. Splitters

In general, operations involving close timing or synchronization ofevents can be controlled by two or more output signals derived from asingle input signal. For example, a first event can be divided into amultiplicity of subevents. With an EV source that produces a largenumber of EV beads or bead chains within a very short period of time, itis possible to divide such an event, that is, to divide a burst of EV's,into two or more EV propagation signals. Apparatus for so dividing EVsignals is called a splitter, and is constructed generally byinterrupting a guide component, such as the RC guide devices illustratedin FIGS. 11-16, with one or more side guide channels intersecting themain guide channel. As EV's move along the main guide channel and reachthe intersection of the main channel with a side, or secondary, channel,some of the EV's move into the secondary channel while the remaindercontinue along the main channel. In constructing a splitter, care mustbe taken to ensure that the secondary guide channel intersects the mainchannel at a position where the EV's actually propagate. For example, ifthe main channel is relatively large so that EV's may move along at avariety of locations throughout the transverse cross section of the mainchannel, then there can be no certainty that an EV will encounter theintersection of the secondary channel with the main channel sufficientlyclose to the secondary channel entrance to move into the secondarychannel.

A splitter shown generally at 290 in FIGS. 29 and 30 includes adielectric base 292 with a mosaic tile 294 bonded to the base. A secondtile piece 296 is also bonded to the base 292. The tiles 294 and 296 arecut as illustrated and bonded to the base 292 appropriately separated toform a secondary guide channel 298 between the two tiles. A single tile,generally rectangular as viewed from the top in FIG. 29, may be cut intotwo pieces to form the channel 298 when the pieces are appropriatelybonded to the base 292.

As discussed hereinbefore, a 90° angle between the edge of such a mosaictile and the base 292 would form a channel to which EV's would beattracted and along which they would be guided. However, providing a 45°bevel forms an acute angle primary channel 300 when the tiles 294 and296 are bonded to the base 292, in the same fashion that such a channelis provided by the guide member 110 illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14. Aguide counterelectrode or ground plane 302 for contributing to theattractive force maintaining the EV's within the guide channels ispositioned on the opposite side of the base 292 from the tiles 294 and296. The dielectric tiles 294, 296 and base 292 may be constructed ofany suitable material, such as aluminum oxide. Similarly, thecounterelectrode 302 may be formed by any suitable conductor material,such as silver paste. The potential applied to the counterelectrode 302is chosen according to the application and other potential levels used,and may be positive or ground.

A second version of a splitter is shown generally at 310 in FIG. 31, andincludes a dielectric base 312 with a primary, straight guide channel314 and a secondary guide channel 316 branching off of the primarychannel at an acute angle. The channels 314 and 316 are grooves ofrectangular cross section formed in the base 312. As shown in FIG. 32, acounterelectrode 318 is positioned on the opposite side of the base 312from the channels 314 and 316 to promote propagation of the EV's alongthe channels, and a flat, dielectric cover 320 is provided for optionalplacement against the top surface of the base to enclose the guidechannels. In order to ensure that EV's moving from left to right alongthe main channel 314, as viewed in FIG. 31, are sufficiently close tothe side of the main channel broken by the secondary channel 316, it isnecessary that the primary channel cross section not be much larger thanthe mean size of the EV's that are propagated along that channel,although each channel has to be large enough to accommodate the largestEV structure to be propagated therethrough. (The mosaic guide channelwith the bevel 300 in FIGS. 29 and 30 will accommodate any size EVstructure because it has an open side.) Typically, for an EV bead chainformed at 2 kv, the primary channel lateral dimension should be 20micrometers. The lower limit for a channel width guiding a single EVbead is approximately 1 micrometer. But, where EV bead chains formed at2 kv are to be propagated along both channels of the splitter 310, thewidth of the secondary channel 316 should be at least 20 micrometers andthe width of the primary channel 314 may range between 20 micrometersand 30-35 micrometers.

Both splitters 290 and 310 may be utilized with a variety of othercomponents, and, for example, EV's may be launched or propagated intothe primary guide channels 300 and 314 from any of the sources disclosedherein. In the case of the splitter 290 of FIGS. 29 and 30, EV's or EVbead chains move along the apex of the channel formation bevel 300 untilthe intersection with the secondary channel 298 is reached. At thatpoint, some of the EV's or EV bead chains move into the secondary guidechannel 298 and the remainder continue to the right, as viewed in FIG.29, along the primary channel 300. The secondary channel 298 guides theEV's or EV bead chains having entered that channel around the elbow ofthat channel as illustrated, so that two streams of EV's or EV beadchains arrive at the right end of the splitter 290 as viewed in FIG. 29along the two channels 300 and 298. From there, the EV's may bemanipulated or exploited by other components.

Similarly, EV's or EV bead chains launched into the left end of theprimary channel 314 of the splitter 310 of FIGS. 31 and 32 move alongthat channel until some of the EV's or EV bead chains enter thesecondary channel 316 and are guided around its elbow so that twostreams of EV's or EV bead chains arrive at the right end of thesplitter for further manipulation or exploitation.

A single EV moving along the primary channel of either of the splitters290 and 310 illustrated may be expected to turn into the narrowersecondary channel in each case. However, it is noted that a stream ofEV's or EV bead chains will be split as described, with some of thepropagation following the main guide channel and the remainder followingthe secondary channel. The deflection of only a portion of an EVpropagation stream into a secondary channel of a cross section smallerthan or equal to that of the primary channel may be due to a crowdingeffect of multiple EV's or EV bead chains at the channel intersection,perhaps caused by the high concentration of charge of the EV's, thatprevents the total EV group from taking the secondary path. This is aform of self-switching in which one or a few EV structures pass into thesecondary channel at a time while others continue along the main path.In any event, splitters of the type illustrated in FIGS. 29-32 areeffective in producing multiple streams of EV propagation generated as asingle stream from a single source. Additionally, the arrivals of theEV's at the output ends of the primary and secondary channels areeffectively simultaneous, since the difference in path length along theprimary and secondary channels is insignificant. Consequently, multipleEV's generated with a single signal pulse and arriving at the junctionof primary and secondary guide channels, for example, may split up withsome EV's propagating along each guide channel to produce EV arrivals,or signals, at two locations. If the guide channel path lengths areidentical, the EV's may arrive at the end points of the channelssimultaneously, or nearly so.

A variable time delay splitter is shown generally at 330 in FIGS. 33 and34 for use in producing a pair of EV propagation signals, generated froma single burst of EV's but arriving at a pair of locations at specifiedtimes which may be essentially the same or different. The time delaysplitter 330 includes a dielectric base 332 to which are bonded threemosaic dielectric tiles 334, 336 and 338. A pointed cathode 340, such asthose illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 or 17, is shown for use in generatingEV's for propagation along a first path 342 extending along theintersections of the base 332 with the top edges (as viewed in FIG. 33)of the two tiles 334 and 336. The path 342 further extends upwardly, asshown in FIG. 33, along the intersection of the base 332 with the leftedge of the rectangular tile 338, along its upper edge and downwardlyalong its right edge.

The first tile 334 is in the form of a trapezoid which cooperates withthe second tile, 336, which is in the form of a triangle, to provide achannel 344 separating these two tiles and intersecting the primary path342 at an acute angle to form the initial leg of a secondary guide path346.

A generally U-shaped dielectric tile 348, having left and right legs 350and 352 for extending about the lower portion of the rectangular tile338 as illustrated, is movable, and may be selectively positioned,relative to the rectangular tile 338 as indicated by the double-headedarrow E. The secondary path 346 continues downwardly, as viewed in FIG.33, along the 90° intersection (see FIG. 34) of the base 332 with theleft side of the tile 338, until the path reaches the tile leg 350. Themovable left leg 350 has a 45° beveled lower inner edge 354, as shown inFIG. 34. Consequently, the secondary path 346, which follows along theintersection of the base 332 and the left edge of the rectangular tile338 below the channel 344, is guided then by the intersection of thebase 332 and the beveled edge 354 of the leg 350 as the EV's prefer themore confined intersection than the 90° intersection of the edge of thetile 338 with the base 332. Consequently, the EV path 346 leaves thetile 338 to follow the tile leg 350. It will be appreciated that themovable tile 348 may be positioned with the leg 350 at the outlet of thechannel 344 so that the secondary path 346 follows the leg without firstfollowing the left side of the tile 338. The secondary path 346 advancesto the base of the U-shaped tile 348 and thereafter moves across thetile base to the right leg 352, which intersects along its left edgewith the base 332 at a 90° angle as illustrated in FIG. 34. However, thelower right edge of the tile 338 features a 45° bevel 356 as anintersection with the base 332. Consequently, EV's moving upwardly, asshown in FIG. 33, along the intersection of the tile leg 352 with thebase 332, then move along the beveled intersection of the tile 338 withthe base, and upwardly away from the end of the movable leg. As shown inFIG. 34, a counterelectrode 358 underlies the base 332 to provide thenecessary potential for enhancing the guiding effects of the paths 342and 346 and, where the splitter 330 includes a cathode 340 for thegeneration of EV's, to provide the potential for such generation.

The right edge of the rectangular tile 338, as viewed in FIG. 33,includes two launchers 360 and 362 in the form of dielectric extensionsending in sharp edges. Thus, EV's moving along the 90° intersection ofthe upper portion of the right edge of the tile 338 with the base 332are guided by the intersection of the launcher 360 with the base.However, the launcher 360 is generally triangular in cross section, asshown in FIG. 33, to provide a sharp edge at the right end of thelauncher. The EV will go forward onto the flat substrate of the base 332rather than turning around the sharp corner of the launcher 360. Thisforward movement of the EV is greatly influenced by the exact shape ofthe leading edge of the launcher 360, which must therefore be relativelysharp and straight to avoid launching EV's at undesired angles. Anexternal field may be provided by electrodes (not shown) placed to theright of the launcher 360 for further manipulation of the EV's.

Similarly, the launcher 362 features a sharp edge toward its right endso that EV's moving along the beveled intersection of the lower rightedge of the tile 338 with the base 332 turn toward the right, as viewedin FIG. 33, to move along the perpendicular intersection between thelauncher 362 and the base, and then out over the base away from thelauncher. EV's exiting the launcher 362 may be further manipulated by anappropriate external field applied with the use of appropriateelectrodes (not shown).

The primary path 342 is a fixed path, that is, it has a singular pathlength between the intersection of that path and the channel 344, forexample, and the launcher 360. 0n the other hand, the secondary path 346is variable in path length between the intersection of the channel 344with the primary path 342 and the second launcher 362, for example. Thisvariation in path length is achieved by movement of the U-shapeddielectric member 348 relative to the rectangular tile 338 as indicatedby the double-headed arrow E. The farther the dielectric member 348 ispositioned downwardly relative to the tile 338, as viewed in FIG. 33,the longer will be the secondary path length 346 (and the shorter willbe the overlapped portions of the legs 350 and 352 with the respectivesides of the tile 338). By selectively positioning the dielectric guidemember 348 relative to the tile 338, the length of the path 346 may beselected and, in this way, the time required for EV's to traverse thesecondary path 346 and arrive at the second launcher 362 may be chosen.Consequently, the relative time of arrival at the two launchers 360 and362 of EV's generated by a single pulse, for example, and following thetwo paths 342 and 346 may be selected by the positioning of thedielectric guide member 348.

The 10 mm dimension indicated in FIG. 33 shows a typical scale for avariable splitter. It will be appreciated that differences in pathlengths on the order of a tenth of a millimeter or less may be readilyeffected using a variable splitter of the size indicated. Anyappropriate means may be utilized to move and selectively position themovable guide member 348, including a mechanical linkage for example. Ifnecessary, where the adjustment is made manually, a form ofmicromanipulator or translator, such as a lever and/or gear system withappropriate mechanical advantage may be utilized to achieve the desiredsensitivity of control.

It will be appreciated that the guide paths 342 and 346 may be modifiedas appropriate to any application. Further, the paths need not extend tolaunchers 360 and 362, but may continue on to further guide paths, forexample, or other components as appropriate.

For example, a version of a variable time delay splitter is showngenerally at 370 in FIG. 35. The construction and operation of thesplitter 370 is similar to that of the splitter 330, and need not befurther described in detail, except for the differences therebetween.For example, the fixed guide path 372 may be the same as the fixed guidepath 342 in FIG. 33, but the variable guide path 374 provided by thesplitter 370 is adjusted by a movable guide member 376 (as indicated bythe double-headed arrow F) which extends farther to the right, as viewedin FIG. 35, and ends in a launcher 378 which expels the EV's along aline directed toward a point of intersection, G, with the first guidepath 372. Thus, EV's may be caused to reach the point G from twodifferent directions at the same time, or at selected different times,depending on the position of the movable guide member 376. Witnessplates, or other EV-detecting devices such as phosphorous screens, 380and 382 may be positioned to receive the EV's moving along the primaryand secondary paths 372 and 374, respectively. Additionally, appropriateanodes or counterelectrodes may be utilized to enhance or further themovement of the EV's from the launchers.

In general, the secondary channel of a splitter may be larger, smalleror equal in transverse dimensions to the main channel. If the secondarychannel is much larger in cross section than the primary channel, all EVpropagation may follow the secondary channel. The secondary channel mayintersect the main channel at any acute angle up to 90°. The channelsmay mutually branch in various patterns, such as to form a "Y" or a "T",for example. For such examples, the two branches may be equivalentchannels. Further, multiple secondary paths may be utilized so that anynumber of output signals may be constructed from a single input EVsignal from a single source, for example. It will be appreciated thatsplitters may also be constructed in forms different from thoseillustrated in FIGS. 29-35. For example, splitters may be constructedutilizing generally tubular guide components as discussed hereinbefore.

14. Deflection Switches

As noted, not only may EV's and EV chains be propagated in selecteddirections by use of guide components, but the guide components may alsoinclude turns in the guide paths to selectively change the direction ofpropagation. The guide components influence the direction of propagationof EV's due to the attraction EV's experience toward the dielectricguide surfaces caused by image charge forces on the EV's, as well as thefields established by counterelectrodes further attracting the EV's tothe dielectric guide surfaces. The direction of propagation of EV's andEV bead chains may also be influenced by the use of transverse electricfields acting on the electric charge of the EV entities to deflect themto new, selected directions. The extent of the deflection will depend onthe size of the deflecting field as well as the period of time overwhich the field is applied to the EV entity. Additionally, thedeflecting field can be turned on or off, or set at varying strengths toselectively deflect EV's differing amounts, or not at all, as the EV'straverse a particular region. Of course, there is a bilateral effectpresent, and the deflecting mechanism, whatever form it may take, mayexperience undesirable reaction from a countervoltage caused by the EVpassage.

As EV's move along guide paths, such as provided by guide grooves aspreviously described for example, the EV propagation path is verystable, not only due to the potential well the EV's are traveling in dueto the dielectric image charge and counterelectrode field, but also tothe transverse wall boundaries established by the dielectric groove intwo or more transverse directions. In order that an EV, moving along aguide channel, may be deflected sideways by an applied field to a newdirection of propagation, the guide constraints in the direction ofdeflection must be sufficiently low to permit the deflection under theinfluence of a deflecting field. At the least, the region in whichdeflection is to occur must be free of any guide channel wall that wouldinterfere with the transverse deflection of the EV. In general, an EVmoving along a guide channel and experiencing a highly stablepropagation path must be exposed to a relatively unstable path in theregion of the deflection; after the desired deflection has occurred, theEV may again enter a relatively highly stable propagation path along aguide channel, for example. Where a choice is permitted, the EV mayproceed in one of two or more available post-deflection propagationpaths, depending on the application of a deflection field. A devicewhich is thus used to selectively change the direction of propagation ofan EV or EV chain, for example, is a deflection switch.

FIGS. 36-38 illustrate top, side and end views, respectively, of adeflection switch shown generally at 390. The EV deflection switch 390is a single pole, double throw switch, constructed with a dielectricbase 392 incorporating a single input guide channel 394 and first andsecond output guide channels 396 and 398, respectively. The input andoutput channels 394-398, which are shown as mutually parallel but may beset at virtually any angles relative to each other, are connected by atransition, or deflection, region 400 which has the same depth as theguide channels but which is generally broadened. A guidecounterelectrode 402 underlies the input channel 394, and guidecounterelectrodes 404 and 406 underlie the output channels 396 and 398,respectively, for the application of appropriate voltages to enhance thepropagation of EV's along the respective guide paths.

Two deflection electrodes 408 and 410 are also positioned on the bottomside of the base 392 opposite the guide channels 394-398 and thetransition region 400, the deflector electrodes extending laterally frompositions partly underlying the transition region outwardly to providerelatively large surface area electrodes. Thus, an EV entering thetransition region 400 from the input guide channel 394 may be deflectedto the left (as viewed from the point of view of the EV entering thetransition region) by a positive charge placed on the left deflectorelectrode 408 and/or a negative charge placed on the right deflectorelectrode 410. In this way, the path of propagation of the EV is turnedfrom the generally straight line path enforced within the input guidechannel 394. By appropriate application of charge to the deflectorelectrode 408 and/or the deflector electrode 410, the EV path may bedeflected so that the EV enters the first, or left, output guide channel396 along which the EV may continue to propagate. Alternatively, chargemay be placed on one or both of the deflector plates 408 and 410 todeflect the path of propagation of an EV emerging from the input channel394 so that the EV enters the second, or right, output channel 398,along which the EV may continue to propagate.

The deflection switch operates by allowing an EV to move from arelatively highly stable path in the input guide channel into a regionof relative instability within which the path may be selectivelydeflected by the application of a deflector field, whereupon the EV mayenter an output guide channel providing another relatively highly stablepropagation path. The transition from the input guide channel to thetransition region should be done in a manner that does not set uptransients in the EV path, otherwise spurious switching can result.Feedback from the deflected EV can be used to completely relieve theeffects of input loading or coupling. For example, any nearby electrodewill pick up voltage feedback as an EV passes; the feedback signal canbe communicated to a deflection plate through an appropriate variableamplitude, phase inverter coupling. Those skilled in the art willrecognize this as a push-pull device. By reversing leads, it can be usedto provide cross coupling. Such a feedback electrode 412 is shownpositioned on the top of the base 392 adjacent the left output channel396 and connected by an appropriate lead to a coupling circuit 413, theoutput of which is connected to the left side deflection electrode 408.A similar feedback electrode 414 is positioned on top of the baseadjacent to the right output channel 398 and connected to a couplingcircuit 415, the output of which is connected to the right sidedeflection electrode 410. In this way, degenerative or regenerativefeedback may be achieved to produce a stable or unstable, that is,bistable, switching process, respectively. Other known feedback effectsmay be achieved, with a different feedback circuit for each effect.Similarly, filters can be constructed with the feedback circuitry tolimit the switching of EV's to an output channel according to chargemagnitude or other parameters, for example. There is a considerableadvantage in having the feedback circuit use electromagnetic componentsoperating near the velocity of light to circumvent the delays that wouldotherwise produce poor transient response. Conventional resistor,capacitor and inductance components in general work well with EV'straveling at about 0.1 the velocity of light.

The deflection switch 390 illustrated in FIGS. 36-38 may be constructedby etching the guide paths and transition region into fused silica usingphotolithographic techniques, for example. The conductive electrodedeposits can be made using vacuum evaporation or sputtering methods. Thedepth and width of the input and output guide channels should beapproximately 0.05 mm for operation with EV's generated at about 1 kv.The deflection voltages applied to the deflector electrodes may rangefrom tens of volts to kilovolts, depending upon the degree of stabilityof the path of the EV passing through the transition, or deflection,region. The degree of stability of the EV path within the transitionregion depends upon the shape and length of the transition region aswell as the configurations of the counterelectrodes.

To optimize the deflection sensitivity of a switch, the EV propagationpath should be more unstable down the middle of the transition region.For example, the deflection switch 390 features a transition guideportion 400 with side walls 416 which intersect the input channel guidewalls at right angles to mark an abrupt end of the input guide channel394. Such an abrupt mechanical transition requires high deflectionvoltages to selectively control and deflect the EV's within thetransition region since the EV's can merely lock onto one of the sidewalls of the transition guide region 400, opposite to the desireddeflection direction. Consequently, high deflection voltage would berequired to switch an EV across the transition guide section 400 to theopposite wall.

The transition from the input channel 394 to the deflection guide area400 can be made more gradual, and the deflection sensitivity of thedevice increased, by particularly patterning the electrodes, includingthe input guide counterelectrode 402. For example, as illustrated, theinput guide counterelectrode 402 does not end at the intersection of theinput guide channel 394 with the intermediate transition section 400,but rather continues on in a tapered portion 418 extending partly underthe intermediate section. Accordingly, the deflector electrodes 408 and410 are truncated to parallel the tapered portion 418 of the inputcounterelectrode 402. Such an electrical transition technique allows anEV to move from the input guide channel 394 to the intermediate guidesection 400 with little disturbance, that is, with no significant changein propagation path in the absence of a deflector field, therebypromoting high deflection sensitivity. Without the use of acounterelectrode in general, the EV propagation path cannot be readilypredicted.

As illustrated, the intermediate region 400 forms a shallow V-shapedwall 420 between the first and second output guide channels 396 and 398,respectively. The shape of this portion 420 of the intermediate guidesection side wall is relatively ineffective in controlling the stabilityof the EV paths within the intermediate region.

Alternatively, an EV may be introduced into the intermediate transitionsection for deflection with low disturbance with the use of a mechanicaldesign to provide a gradual transition of the EV from the influence ofthe input guide channel to the intermediate guide region. For example,such a deflection switch may feature an input guide groove which tapersin the thickness direction, or depth, in conjunction with an input guidecounterelectrode which may end relatively abruptly, and may even besquared off, for example. For example, a tapered top surface 422 aboutthe input channel 394 is shown in phantom in FIG. 37 as an illustrationof such mechanical design. The input guide channel gradually loses itseffectiveness in guiding the EV as the EV advances toward the deflectionregion, thus negotiating a transition between the two regions withlittle disturbance of the propagation path of the EV in the absence of adeflector field, and again providing relatively high deflectionsensitivity. It will be appreciated that etching techniques in generalyield tapered edges rather than abrupt, squared-off edges at the ends ofsurfaces. This naturally occuring etch taper may be exaggerated toachieve the taper such as illustrated at 422 in FIG. 37.

A technique to give greater stability against charge collection is touse a low resistance coating for the deflector electrodes, and placingthese electrodes on the upper surface within the transition region 400rather than under the region. Thus, the EV path will generally cross adeflector electrode. Dielectric charging is prevented by using thisdeflection method.

15. EV Oscilloscope

An EV or EV bead chain traveling across a surface in vacuum may do so inan erratic fashion due to local fields and surface disturbances. Suchmovement is accompanied by the ejection of electrons from the EV so thatits path is visible when viewed by an electron imaging system or by theejected electrons striking a nearby phosphor that produces visiblelight. By utilizing field forming structures, such as deflectionelectrodes, to impress electric fields to control the path of an EV, thepath, and therefore its optical image, can be made to describe the timevarying function of the applied voltage, thus providing the functions ofan oscilloscope. This can be effectively achieved by extending thequality of the stabilizing and deflection methods of the EV switch 390of FIGS. 36-38.

An EV oscilloscope of the planar type is illustrated generally at 424 inFIG. 39, and includes a dielectric substrate, or base, 426 featuring anEV input guide channel 428 opening onto a flat transition, ordeflection, area 430 after the fashion of the transition area 400 of thedeflection switch 390 in FIG. 36. A guide counterelectrode 432 underliesthe guide groove 428, but ends in an extended taper under the deflectionarea 430 as illustrated. The leading wall 434 of the deflection area 430is set at a 90° angle relative to the input channel 428. Consequently,the combination of the tapered counterelectrode 432 and the structure ofthe deflection area wall 434 relative to the input channel 428 maximizesthe stability of EV's or EV chains entering the deflection area from theinput channel as discussed hereinbefore in connection with thedeflection switch 390.

Two deflector electrodes 436 and 438 are provided on the underside ofthe substrate 426 as illustrated to selectively apply a signal to act onEV's moving across a selected portion, the active area indicated by thebroken line H, of the transition area 430. The entire interior area ofthe transition region 430 may be coated with resistive material tosuppress surface charge and act as a terminator for the transmissionline feeding in the deflection signal to the deflection electrodes 436and 438. The bottom surface of the deflection area 430 must be smooth toavoid local unintended structures which might deflect an EV. The EV, orEV chain, propagates out of the active area H and the deflection region430 in general, and may eventually be caught by a collector anode (notshown).

FIG. 40 is an end view of the EV oscilloscope 424, showing the additionof a phosphor screen 440. The screen 440 is to be positioned over atleast the active area H, but may extend over the entire transition area430 or even the entire substrate 426 as illustrated. Electrons emittedfrom the EV or EV chain moving under the influence of the applieddeflection field interact with the phosphor 440 to emit light. Anoptical microscope 442 is positioned to receive light emitted from thephosphor 440 for magnification and observation. A light intensifyingtelevision camera can also be used in this configuration in place of theoptical microscope. Magnification for the viewing system, whether amicroscope or a television camera, should be sufficient to show anobject of several micrometers, the approximate size of an EV. Utilizinga television monitor to view the activity of the oscilloscope providesboth increased sensitivity and easy recording ability. Additionally, anelectron camera, described hereinafter in Section 16, can be utilized tolook directly at an EV traveling on the transition area 430, or even inspace.

Any EV source compatible with launching into guides can be utilized withthe EV oscilloscope 424. If appropriate, a separator or selector mayalso be utilized to provide the desired EV or EV chain entering thescope guide channel 428. Typically, the formation and launching voltageused to obtain EV's for the oscilloscope 424 may range between 200 voltsand 2 kv depending upon the size of the structures utilized. As in thecase of the deflector switch 390 of FIGS. 36-38, the design of the guidechannel 428 (such as its length) and counterelectrode 432, and thedeflection region 430 must be such as to provide a stabilized EVlaunched into the deflection region 430 without locking onto the sidewalls of the deflection region. The scope 424 effectively operates, inpart, as an analog-type of switch with many output states that aredetermined by the voltage applied to the deflector electrodes 436 and438.

The velocity of the EV moving out of the guide channel 428 and acrossthe deflection region 430, coupled with the image magnification providedby the optical microscope, television system or electron camera, forexample, represent the horizontal scan rate of the oscilloscope 424while the electric field impressed orthogonally to this motion, by useof the deflector electrodes 436 and 438, displays the vertical axis. TheEV motion resulting is not a true function of the potential impressedupon the deflection electrodes 436 and 438, but rather an integral ofthe function.

Synchronization of the EV trace with the electrical event being analyzedby use of the scope 424 may be accomplished by generating the EV'sslightly before the event is to be displayed, as is usual foroscillography. The sensitivity and sweep speed of the scope 424 may bevaried by changing the entire device geometrically, or at least viewinga longer EV run in an extended active area H for longer sweep times.Typically, the distance between nearest points of the two deflectorelectrodes 436 and 438 may be in the range of approximately 1millimeter, and impressed signal frequencies on the order of 100 GHz maybe utilized. The voltage range of the display is determined by selectinga particular attenuation for the signal before it is impressed upon thedeflection electrodes 436 and 438. Due to the small size of the EV andits relatively high velocity, the bandwidth of an EV oscilloscope isrelatively large. Single event waveforms can be analyzed when thetransition times lie in the 0.1 picosecond range. Such a fastoscilloscope provides a significant tool in analyzing high speed effectsobtained with use of EV' s. For such wide bandwidths, as is possiblewith the "picoscope," it is necessary to compensate the attenuators usedin the signal input circuitry to the deflection electrodes 436 and 438.Use of microstructures in constructing the EV scope avoids excessivesignal time delays. The scope 424 and any associated circuitry should beoperated as closely as possible to the electrical event being measuredto prevent dispersion in the coupling transmission lines. For much ofthe work in the range of an EV scope, the scope may be effectivelyembedded in the region generating the signal. The picoscope essentiallybecomes a "chip scope," and may be considered practically disposable.

16. Electron Camera

As noted hereinbefore, an electron camera may be utilized to view theelectron emissions from EV's moving on an EV oscilloscope, such as thepicoscope 424 of FIGS. 39 and 40. Such an electron camera is showngenerally at 450 in FIGS. 41 and 42. The camera 450 includes a metalliccasing 452 which serves as an electrical shield against stray fieldswhich might otherwise affect the manipulation of charge within thecasing. A pinhole aperture 454 is provided as an entrance to the casing452 to allow electrons, ions, neutral particles or photons, to enter thecasing while assisting in screening out stray charge, for example.Typical scale for the camera 452 is indicated by the 25 millimeterdimension shown in FIG. 42. Typical lateral dimension of the aperture454 is approximately 50 micrometers.

A pair of deflector plates 456 and 458 are positioned within the casing452 so that charged particles entering the aperture 454 are generallydirected between the deflection plates. Terminals 460 and 464 extendfrom the deflection plates 456 and 458, respectively, through the wallof the casing 452 and are insulated therefrom by insulation shafts 462and 466, respectively. A combination channel electron multiplier (CEM)and phosphor screen 468 is positioned across the end of the casing 452opposite the aperture 454. Charged particles impact the CEM, whichproduces a cascade effect to yield a magnified charge impact on thescreen, which glows to optically signal the original impact on the CEMat the location opposite the glow on the screen. The construction andoperation of such a CEM and phosphor screen combination 468 are known,and need not be further described in detail herein.

The casing 452 is open at the phosphor screen, except with the possibleaddition of a conducting film to complete the shielding provided by thecasing, but which will not interfere with the emergence of light fromthe phosphor screen to be viewed outside the casing. Although not shownin the drawings, the CEM and phosphor screen 468 are provided withappropriate lead connections by which selected voltages may be appliedthereto separate from the potential at which the casing 452 may be set,and by which a potential difference may be effected between the CEM andthe phosphor screen. Typically, the potential difference between the CEMand the phosphor screen is 5 kv, while the CEM gain is independentlyvaried by setting its potential. In general, the various components ofthe camera 450, including the case 452, may be set at either polarityand at any potential, at least up to 5 kv.

In addition to the capability of having various voltages applied to thecasing 452, CEM and phosphor screen 468 and electrodes 456 and 458, thecamera 450 may also be mounted for selected movement and positioningrelative to whatever is being examined by means of the camera. Thus, forexample, it may be appropriate to move the camera longitudinally and/orsideways, or rotate the camera about any of its axes.

Charged particles, such as electrons, entering the aperture 454 maystrike the CEM 468 at any point thereof, with the result that a brightspot is produced on the phosphor screen and can be viewed as anindication of some event. The deflection plates 456 and 458 are providedfor use in performing charge or energy analysis, for example, or inother measurements. Retarding potential methods, utilizing the voltageon the CEM, for example, may also be used in the analyses. Such analysistechniques are known, and need not be described in detail herein.

The pinhole camera 450 has a variety of applications in conjunction withEV's, for example. In FIG. 41, an EV source 470 and anode 472 arepositioned in front of the camera aperture 454 so that EV's may beextracted from the source and passed through an aperture in theextracting anode. The EV's will strike the front of the camera 450around the aperture 454, which may be in a molybdenum plate. A brassring (not shown) may be placed in front of the plate with the aperture454 to receive the EV's and prevent them from striking the face of thecamera 450. A metal foil may be placed across the aperture 454 to serveas a target. In another such arrangement, the combination of the EVsource 470 and the extractor 472 may be positioned at a differentangular orientation relative to the camera 450, such as at 90° relativeto the configuration illustrated in FIG. 41 so that generated EV's aremade to pass by the camera aperture 454 with the result that soleelectrons emitted from the passing EV may enter the camera aperture forobservation of the EV propagation.

FIG. 43 illustrates how the camera 450 may be used in conjunction withan EV oscilloscope such as the picoscope 424 of FIG. 39. As illustratedin FIG. 43, the camera 450 may be positioned facing the active area H ofthe oscilloscope 424 with the camera aperture a short distance therefromso that electron emission from an EV being used to trace a signal on thescope active area may enter the camera through the camera aperture andbe detected by the CEM and phosphor screen. For such use of the camera,tne deflection plates 456 and 458 may be maintained at ground potential,for example, while the CEM is maintained at sufficient voltage toaccelerate the EV-emitted electrons to strike the CEM. The lens systemof a television camera 474 is illustrated facing the light output end ofthe camera 450 in FIG. 43. The CEM and phosphor screen combinacionalready provides a magnification of approximately 5 is the camera 450 asillustrated. The overall magnification of the combination of theelectron camera 450 and the television camera 474 may be increased byuse of the television system.

FIG. 44 shows yet another use of an electron camera 450, here inconjunction with a second electron camera 450' positioned so that thelongitudinal axes of the two cameras are mutually perpendicular and maybe in the same plane. In this way, the location of an EV, for examplepassing in front of the two cameras may be determined in threedimensions. As illustrated, the cameras 450 and 450' are positionedalong the x and y axes, respectively, of an orthogonal xyz coordinatesystem, with the cameras "looking back" toward the origin of thecoordinate system. Two sets of deflecting electrodes, includingelectrodes 476 and 478 located in mutual opposition along the x axis,and electrodes 480 and 482 also located in mutual opposition and along aline perpendicular to the axis of orientation of the first pair ofelectrodes 476 and 478, that is along the y axis, may be positioned asillustrated to selectively deflect an EV in the combined field of viewof the cameras 450 and 450'. The electrodes 476-482 may be thin wires,say on the order of 0.5 mm in diameter, so that the wires 478 and 481nearest the cameras 450 and 450', respectively, may be placed in frontof the respective cameras without interfering with the line of sight ofthe cameras, that is, the cameras "see around" the wire electrodes.Appropriate leads to the electrodes 476-482 permit setting them atdesired potentials. In this way, as noted hereinbefore in the discussionof an EV oscilloscope in Section 15, an EV oscilloscope operating inthree dimensions can be constructed and utilized with two electroncameras.

FIG. 44 also illustrates the use of a third electron camera 450"positioned along the z axis, for example, to further observe thebehavior of EV's in three dimensions in conjunction with the x and ycameras, 450 and 450', respectively. Field electrodes 484 and 486 areprovided along the z axis to deflect EV's in that direction.

Two electron cameras may be positioned along the same line, such ascameras 450" and 450 (insert three apostrophes here after 450) shown inFIG. 44 facing each other along the z axis, to perform Doppler energyanalyses on electrons, for example.

As in the case of the picoscope of Section 15, for example, anyappropriate EV source, with EV manipulating components disclosed herein,may be utilized to introduce EV's into the field of observation of anyof the camera arrangements indicated in FIG. 44.

17. Multielectrode Sources

The separators, selectors and launchers described hereinbefore are formsof multielectrode sources, or EV generators, designed for specificpurposes as noted; that is, these devices include electrodes in additionto a cathode and single anode, or counterelectrode used to generateEV's. Multielectrode devices may be used for other purposes as well. Forsome applications, it may be necessary to maintain a fixed cathode andanode potential difference for EV generation while still exercisingselective control over the production of EV's. This may be accomplishedby adding a control electrode to form a triode. One version of a triodesource is shown generally at 490 in FIG. 45. The triode 490 isconstructed on a dielectric base 492 featuring an elongate guide groove494 in which is located a planar cathode 496. An anode, orcounterelectrode, 498 is positioned on the opposite side of the base 492from the cathode 496, and toward the opposite end of the base. A controlelectrode 500 is also positioned on the opposite side of the base 492from the cathode 496, but closer longitudinally to the end of thecathode then is the anode 498. Effectively, the control electrode 500 ispositioned between the cathode 496 and the anode 498 so that the voltageof the control electrode may significantly affect the electric field atthe emission end of the cathode where EV's are formed.

With fixed potentials applied to the cathode 496 and anode 498, an EVmay be generated at the cathode by pulsing the control electrode 500 ina positive sense. There is a sharp threshold for effecting fieldemission at the cathode, the process that initiates the generation of anEV. Therefore, a bias voltage may be applied to the control electrode500 with a pulse signal of modest voltage amplitude to generate EV's. Insuch case, no dc current is drawn from the control electrode 500, butlarge ac currents are present with the pulsed signal.

A triode operates by raising the cathode emission density to thecritical point required for the generation of an EV. As in triodes ingeneral, some interaction between the control electrode 500 and theoutput of the source 490 may occur. The control electrode 500 must bedriven hard enough to force the first EV and a subsequent EV intoexistence because of the strong feedback effects that tend to suppressthe creation of the EV's. Standard feedback at high frequenciesdiminishes the gain of the generator, so that the control electrodecannot be raised to sufficiently high positive potential to effectsubsequent EV generation. For example, as the control electrode voltageis being raised in a positive sense to effect initial EV generation atthe cathode 496, the capacitance of the combination of the controlelectrode and the anode 498 increases due to the presence of an EV aswell as the increase in the control electrode voltage. Wnen the first EVformation begins, the effect of the control voltage is reduced due tospace charge. As the EV leaves the region over the control electrode 500and approached the region over the anode 498, there is a voltage coupledto the control electrode that depends upon the anode instantaneouspotential, and which inhibits raising the control electrode potentialfor generation of the subsequent EV. This coupling can be reduced byincorporating still another electrode to produce a tetrode.

A planar tetrode source is shown generally at 510 in FIGS. 46-48. Adielectric base 512 features a guide groove 514 in which a planarcathode 516 is located. On the opposite side of the base 512, and towardthe opposite end thereof, from the cathode 516 is an anode, orcounter-electrode, 518. A control electrode 520, similar to the controlelectrode 500 shown in FIG. 45, is positioned on the opposite side ofthe base 512 from the cathode 546 crossing under the guide groove 514,and is located between the longitudinal position of the anode 518 andthat of the cathode. Consequently, the control electrode 520 may bebiased and pulsed to effect generation of EV's from the cathode 516 asdescribed in relation to the triode source 490 in FIG. 45, even with thecathode and anode potentials held constant.

A feedback electrode 522 is also positioned on the opposite side of thebase 512 from the cathode 516. The feedback electrode 522 is positionedsufficiently close to the anode 518 to diminish any coupling between thecontrol electrode 520 and the anode. Further, as may be appreciated byreference to FIG. 46, the feedback electrode 522 extends partly into arecess 524 in the side of the anode 518 so that the anode partiallyshields the feedback electrode from the control electrode 520 tominimize any inadvertent coupling between the control electrode and thefeedback electrode.

The tetrode at 510 illustrated in FIGS. 46-48 may be constructedutilizing microlithographic film techniques. The width of the EV guidegroove 514 may range from approximately 1 micrometer to approximately 20micrometers; therefore, either optical or electron lithographic methodsmay be used to construct the tetrode. Typically, aluminum oxide may beused to form the dielectric base 512, and molybdenum may be theconductor material used to form the various electrodes. Other choicesfor materials include diamond-like carbon for the dielectric andtitanium carbide or graphite for the conductor. In general, any stabledielectric material and stable metallic conductor material may beutilized. The cathode 516 may be wetted with liquid metal as discussedhereinbefore. However, with small structures in thermal equilibrium,there is the possible danger of the migratory metal straying to placesother than the cathode 516 to alter the electrode configuration.Alternatively, the planar cathode 516 may be pointed at the end 526 toprovide a sharpened tip to aid in the production of field emittedelectrons in EV formation, rather than relying on metal wetting torestore a cathode edge for EV production. Multielectrode sources such astre triode 490 and the tetrode 510 illustrated herein may be operated invacuum, or in selected gas pressure as discussed hereinbefore inrelation to other devices.

Multielectrode sources are discussed in further detail in Section 21 onfield emission sources, wherein an operating circuit is indicated for atetrode source.

The previously described triode devices, including the separators,selectors and launchers, may be provided in tetrode form as well. Whileseveral multielectrode generators are illustrated and described herein,other apparatus employing two or more electrodes and useful in variousapplications and for a range of purposes may be adaptable to EVtechnology. In general, techniques used in the operation of vacuum tubescan be used efffectively in various EV generation or manipulationdevices.

18. Electrodeless Sources

Yet another type of EV generator is shown generally at 530 in FIG. 49. Agenerally elongate dielectric envelope 532 features three electrodes534, 536 and 538, fixed to exterior surfaces of the envelope. The twoelectrodes 534 and 538 are positioned on opposite ends of the envelope532 while the intermediate electrode 536 is shown located approximatelyone-third of the distance from the electrode 534 to the electrode 538.The end electrode 538 is an extractor electrode which is used in themanipulation of EV's after their formation. The remaining electrodes 534and 536 are utilized in the formation of EV's. The intermediateelectrode 536 is in the form of a ring electrode surrounding theenvelope 532. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the ringelectrode 536 is located within the exterior formation of a constrictionthat defines an interior aperture 540 separating the interior of theenvelope 532 into a formation chamber 542, to the left as viewed in FIG.49, and an exploitation, or working, chamber 544, to the right as viewedin FIG. 49. Likewise, the end electrode 534 is positioned within thedepress on formed by an indentation into the end of the envelope 532.Consequently, the intermediate electrode 536 is frustoconical, and theend electrode 534 is conical; the extractor electrode 538 is planar. Theindentation and constriction on which the electrodes 534 and 536,respectively, are located are not necessary for the formation of EV's,but serve other purposes as discussed hereinafter. Although the workingchamber 544 is illustrated as approximately twice the length of theformation chamber 542, the working chamber may be virtually any length.

When bipolar electrical energy, such as radio frequency energy, isapplied to the first and second electrodes 534 and 536, respectively,mounted on the dielectric envelope 532 which contains a gas, EV's areformed within the formation chamber 542 even though the externalmetallic electrodes are isolated from the internal discharge. A cathodeis utilized to generate the EV's although the isolated first electrode534 appears as a "virtual cathode." Such "electrodeless," or isolatedcathode, EV production may be desirable under some conditions, such aswhen there is danger of damaging electrodes by sputtering action due tohigh voltage discharge EV production.

For a given set of parameters such as spacing, gas pressure and voltage,the discharge is particularly effective in producing and guiding EV's(as discussed in connection with gas and optical guides, for example),when the atomic number of the interior gas is high. For example, in therange of effectiveness, argon ranks low: krypton is more effective:xenon is the most effective of the three, assuming the spacing, pressureand voltage conditions remain the same.

Propagation of EV's through the gas within the envelope 532 produces ionstreamers, as described hereinbefore, appearing as very thin, brightlines in the free gas or attached to the wall of the envelope. One ormore EV's may follow along an ion streamer established by an earlierpropagated EV. The first EV of such a series is propagated withoutcharge balance; subsequent EV's passing along the same ion sheathestablished by the first EV of the series do so with charge balancemaintained. As multiple EV's propagate along the same streamer, thethickness of the ion sheath increases.

The dielectric envelope 532 may typically be made of aluminum oxide andhave an internal transverse thickness of approximately 0.25 mm foroperation at 3 kilovolt peak voltage between the two formationelectrodes 534 and 536, with an interior pressure of 0.1 atmosphere ofxenon gas. With such parameters, the spacing between the formationelectrodes 534 and 536 should be approximately 1 mm. The dielectric maybe metallized with silver for the formation of the electrodes 534-538.

The frustoconical shape of the first electrode 534 tends to stabilizethe position of the EV formation. The annular constriction provides theaperture 540 of approximately 5×10⁻² mm for the remaining above-notedparameters. The aperture 540 permits operation at different pressures onopposite sides thereof between the formation chamber 542 and theexploitation chamber 544, when appropriate pumping is utilized toproduce the pressure differential by means of gas pressure communicationlines (not shown). For example, reduced gas pressure in the exploitationchamber reduces the guiding effect of the streamers for easier selectivemanipulation of the EV's. EV's in the exploitation, or load, chamber maybe controlled by application of appropriately variable amplitude ortiming potentials to the extractor electrode 538, as well as otherexternal electrodes (not shown) for example, for useful manipulation ofthe EV's. For a given pumping rate, a greater pressure differential maybe maintained on opposite sides of the aperture 540 for a smallerdiameter aperture. The aperture diameter may be reduced to approximately2.5×10⁻² mm and still allow passage of EV's therethrough. If the gaspressure in the exploitation chamber is sufficiently low, the EV's willpropagate without visible streamer production as "black" EV's.Furthermore, an electrodeless source can be constructed with a smallerdistance separating the formation electrodes 534 and 536 whereby EV'scan be generated with as low as a few hundred volts applied. Moreover,the electrodeless source may be planar.

19. Traveling Wave Components

One use for EV's generated within a dielectric envelope such as providedby the source 530 of FIG. 49 is in a traveling wave circuit, andparticularly in a traveling wave tube. Such a device provides a goodcoupling technique for exchanging energy from an EV to a conventionalelectrical circuit, for example. In general, an EV current manipulatedby any of the guiding, generating or launching devices described hereinmay be coupled for such an exchange of energy. For example, a travelingwave tube is shown generally at 550 in FIG. 50, and includes a launcher(generally of the type illustrated in FIG. 25), or cathode, 552 forlaunching or generating EV's within a cylindrically symmetric EV guidetube 554, at the opposite end of which is an anode, or collectorelectrode, 556. A counterelectrode ground plane 558 is illustratedexterior to and along the guide tube 554, and may partially circumscribethe guide tube. The ground plane 558 cannot completely circumscribe thetube 554 because such construction would shield the electromagneticradiation signal from propagating out of the tube. Appropriate mountingand sealing fittings 560 and 562 are provided for positioning thelauncher or cathode 552 and anode 556, respectively, at the oppositeends of the guide tube 554.

A conducting wire helix 564 is disposed about the guide tube 554 andextends generally between, or just overlaps, the launcher 552 and theanode 556. The helix 564 is terminated in a load 566, which representsany appropriate application but which must match the impedance of thehelix to minimize reflections. A pulsed input signal may be fed to thelauncher or cathode 552 through an optional input, current-limiting,resistor 568. The input resistor 568 may be deleted if it consumes toomuch power for a given application. EV energy not expended to the helix564 is collected at the anode 556 and a collector resistor 570 toground. An output terminal 572 is provided for communication to anappropriate detector, such as an oscilloscope, for example, for waveform monitoring.

The velocity of an EV is typically 0.1 the velocity of light, or alittle greater, and this speed range compares favorably with the rangeof delays that can be achieved by helix and serpentine delay linestructures. For example, the length of the helix 564 and of the EV pathfrom the launcher or cathode 552 to the anode 556 may be approximately30 cm with the helix so constructed to achieve a delay of approximately16 ns at a helix impedance of approximately 200 ohms. The impedance anddelay of the helix 564 are affected, in part, by the capacitive couplingto the ground plane 558. The inside diameter of the glass or ceramictubing 554 may be approximately 1 mm or smaller, with the tubing havingan outside diameter of approximately 3 mm. An EV can be launched at avoltage of 1 kv (determined primarily by the source) at a xenon gaspressure of 10⁻² torr to achieve an output pulse of several kv, forexample, from the helix 564.

As an example, with a mercury wetted copper wire as a cathode in placeof the launcher 552, a xenon gas pressure of approximately 10⁻² torr, aninput pulse voltage 600 ns wide at 1 kv with a firing rate of 100 pulsesper second impressed through a 1500 ohm input resistor 568, and with ananode voltage of zero and a target load 570 of 50 ohms, an outputvoltage of -2 kv was achieved on a 200 ohm delay line 564 and an outputvoltage into the target 556 of -60 volts. A faint purple glow wasestablished within the tube 554 and, when a positive input voltage wasapplied to the anode 556, visual EV streamers were present for the lastcentimeter of the EV run just before striking the anode. The wave formgenerated in the helix 564 is a function of the gas pressure. Generally,a sharp negative pulse of approximately 16 ns in length was producedwith the aforementioned parameters, followed by a flat pulse having alength that was linearly related to the gas pressure, and which could bemade to vary from virtually zero at preferred conditions of minimal gaspressure to as long as one millisecond. The input pulse repetition ratemay be reduced for such high gas pressure values to permit clearing ofion within the tube between pulses to accommodate the long output pulse.The magnitude of the negative pulse increased as the gas pressuredecreased. At minimal gas pressure, only a sharp negative pulse ofapproximately 16 ns width was obtained.

A planar traveling wave circuit is shown generally at 580 in FIG. 51,and may be constructed by lithographic technology using films ofmaterial. A dielectric base 582 includes a guide channel 584 containinga collector, or anode, 586. EV's are input by a launcher, or otherappropriate device, at the left end of the guide groove 584 as viewed inFIG. 51, and are further maintained within the guide groove by use of acounterelectrode (not visible) on the opposite side of the base 582 fromthe groove.

A serpentine conductor 588 is positioned on the bottom side of the base582, underlying the guide groove 414 as illustrated, and ending in aload resistor, or other type load, 590, as needed. As EV's are launchedinto and guided down the groove 584, energy of the EV's is transferredto the serpentine conductor 588 and communicated to the load 590.Remaining EV energy is absorbed at the anode 586, which may be connectedto a ground resistor, detector or other load. Although not illustrated,it is preferable to have a counterelectrode under the serpentineconductor, separated by a dielectric layer, to achieve a reasonable lineimpedance and the reduction of radiation and also a dielectric or spacelayer between the groove and the serpentine.

As an alternative to placing the conductor 588 on the bottom of the base582 opposite to the guide groove 584, the groove may be covered with adielectric and a serpentine conductor such as 588 placed above thedielectric cover to overlie the groove. Without such a dielectric coverlayer separating the groove 584 from the conductor above, acounterelectrode must be positioned on the bottom side of the base 584under the guide groove to prevent EV's from moving onto the serpentineconductor. With such an arrangement, electrons emitted during EVpropagation down the guide groove 584 may be collected on the serpentineconductor for added energy transfer.

Traveling wave tubes or circuits as illustrated in FIGS. 50 and 51, forexample, thus provide a technique for converting EV energy into energythat may be communicated by conventional electrical circuitry. With suchtechniques, electromagnetic radiation from the microwave region tovisible light can be generated by EV pulses and coupled to conventionalelectrical circuitry by selectively adjusting the transmission lineparameters and EV generation energy.

20. Pulse Generator

An EV is characterized by a large, negative electric charge concentratedin a small volume and traveling at relatively high speed, so that an EVor EV chain can be used to generate a high voltage fast rise and fallpulse. For example, any of the devices described herein for generationof EV's may be utilized in conjunction with a selector, such as shown inFIG. 26 or FIG. 27, to obtain the desired charge structure to provideEV's at a capturing electrode whereby the high charge density of an EVis converted to an electromagnetic pulse with the desired overall pulseshape. A switching, or pulse rise, speed as fast as approximately 10⁻¹⁴seconds may be obtained when a 1 micrometer EV bead containing 10¹¹elementary charges and traveling at 0.1 the velocity of light iscaptured on an electrode system designed for the desired bandwidth. Thevoltage generated depends upon the impedance of the circuit capturingthe EV's, but will generally be in the range of several kv.

A pulse generator is shown generally at 600 in FIG. 52, and includes acylindrically symmetric selector shown generally at 602. Aconically-tipped cathode 604, wetted with conducting material, ispositioned within a separator dielectric base 606 and facing an aperture608 thereof. A generating anode 610 coats the exterior of the dielectricbase 606, and an extractor electrode 612 is positioned a short distancein front of the base aperture. A generally cylindrical conducting shield614 generally circumscribes the separator 602, and is closed by a disk616 of dielectric material on which is mounted the extractor electrode612. A conductive metal coating in the shape of an annular ring providesa conducting terminal 618 on the side of the disk 616 facing the shield614, and makes electrical contact with the shield. A load resistance 620provided by a resistor coating covers the annular surface area betweenthe extractor electrode 612 and the ring conductor 618 so that theseparator 602 is nearly completely surrounded by shielding to limitelectrical stray fields and to help complete current paths with minimalinductance. The overall size of the pulse generator may be approximately0.5 cm.

The external side of the dielectric disk 616, shown also in FIG. 53, isvirtually a mirror image of the interior side, featuring a circularoutput electrode 622 connected to an annular ring electrode 624 by aresistive coating 626, with the shape and dimensions of the exteriorelectrodes 622 and 624 being essentially the same as those of theinterior electrodes 612 and 618, respectively. The output electrode 622is thus capacitively coupled to the extractor electrode 612 whereby thecapture of the relatively high charge of an EV or EV chain by theextractor electrode produces a corresponding high negative charge on theoutput electrode.

To initiate EV production, an appropriate negative pulse may be appliedto the cathode 604 by means of an input terminal 628 with the anode 610maintained at ground, or a relatively small positive potential, by meansof a terminal 630 passing through an appropriate opening 632 in theshield 614. A more positive extractor voltage is applied to theextractor electrode 612 through a terminal 634 to the shield 614connected to the extractor electrode by means of the conducting ring 618and the internal resistor coating 620. When an EV is generated andleaves the selector 602, and is captured by the extractor electrode 612,the potential of the extractor electrode is rapidly lowered, and risesas the EV charge is dispersed by means of the resistor coating 620 andthe shield 614, and ultimately by way of the terminal 634. The extractorvoltage applied to the extractor electrode 612 is variable so that onlyselected EV's may be extracted from the selector 602 to provide theoutput pulses as desired. A bias voltage may be placed on the outputelectrode 622 by a terminal 636 connected to the ring conductor 624 andultimately to the output electrode by the resistor coating 626.

In general, for fast pulse times, small, low reactance components with aminimum distance between the various circuit elements are used. Theapproach distance of the EV from the selector 602 to the extractorelectrode 612, and the charge of the EV determine the rise time of thenegative pulse on the output electrode 622. The RC constant, orresistance, of the load resistor 620 determines the pulse fall time. Forexample, output pulses with a rise and fall time of 10⁻¹³ secondsminimum may be achieved with the "picopulser" 600 having a maximumexternal diameter of approximately 0.5 cm. The load resistor 620 istypically at least as large as about 10⁻⁴ ohms (and can be 10⁻³ ohms),and may be achieved by utilizing a thin metallic coating on the surfaceof the dielectric disk 616, which may be ceramic, for example. A similarresistive coating may be used as the resistor 626 to achieve the outputcoupling and bypass capacitor action. The output resistor 626 determinesthe bias on loads, for example. Where dc current is drawn at the output,the output pulse decay times may be varied by varying the outputresistive coating 626, with longer pulse decay times achieved byincreasing the resistance value of the coating, utilizing fired-on thickfilm fabrication techniques, for example. An operating voltage of up to8 kv for various biases can be obtained, with proper attention to thefinish of the metal conductive coating rings 618 and 624. The level ofthe output pulse may be varied by selectively varying the attenuationfactor in the load circuit applied to the terminal 636.

The picopulser 600 thus provides a technique for achieving very fast andlarge voltage pulses by initial generation of EV's or EV chains. Foroptimum performance, the pulse generator 600 should be operated invacuum.

21. Field Emission Sources

The principle requirement for generating an EV is to rapidly concentratea very high, uncompensated electronic charge in a small volume. Such anoperation implies an emission process coupled to a fast switchingprocess. In the various gaseous EV generators described hereinbefore,the switching process is provided by non-linear actions of gasionization and possibly some electronic ram effects. The gas switchingprocess operates even with the sources utilizing cathodes wetted withliquid metal, once the basic field emission process liberates metalvapor from the cathode region by thermal evaporation and ionicbombardment. Pure field emission generation of EV's can be achieved withthe elimination of all gas and migratory material from the system of EVgeneration. To achieve such field emission generation, fast switchingmust be provided and coupled to the field emitter so that the emissionprocess can be switched on and then off again before the emitter isheated to the evaporation point by electronic conduction. Thus, EV's aregenerated by a field emission cathode operated in the emission densityregion beyond that normally used with other field emission devices, bypulsing the emitter on and off very rapidly, that is, faster than thethermal time constant of the cathode, thereby preventing thermaldestruction of the emitter. Since the thermal time constant of theemitter is typically less than 1 picosecond, the resulting requiredshort switching time for potentials in the hundreds of volts range canbe achieved using EV-actuated switching devices, such as the pulsegenerator 600 illustrated in FIGS. 52 and 53.

A field emission EV source is shown generally at 650 in FIG. 54, and isconstructed and functions similarly to the pulse generator 600 of FIGS.52 and 53 with the exception that the pulse output electrode 652 of thefield emission source includes a pointed emitter 654 extending from theotherwise disk-shaped electrode. An appropriate voltage pulse signal isapplied to the cathode 656 and anode 658 of the separator showngenerally at 660 to generate EV's, and a selected extractor voltage isapplied to the extractor electrode 662 to attract an EV thereto. Captureof the EV at the extractor electrode 662 produces a fast rise negativepulse on the output electrode 652 so that a large field is concentratedat the tip of the emitter 654. The resulting field effect at the tip ofthe emitter 654 produces one or more EV's by pure field emission, withthe field emission source operating in vacuum. The EV-generated negativepulse on the output electrode 652 must also have a short fall time sothat the pulse is killed before the emitter 654 is damaged in thedecline of the pulse. The resistor coating 664 on the extractorelectrode side of the disk 666 may be approximately 10⁻² ohms, and theresistor coating 668 on the field emitter side may be approximately 10⁶ohms. An EV guide, 670, of the generally cylindrical constructionillustrated in FIG. 15, for example, is shown positioned to receive EV'slaunched from the emitter 654 and to manipulate them to whatever load isintended.

The field emission generator 650 may be used to form EV's while at thesame time testing the field emission cathode 654 for damage in order tooptimize the formation process to minimize damage. A phosphor screen, ora witness plate (not shown), may be positioned appropriately to receiveEV's formed at the emitter 654. The picopulser is turned off and a biasvoltage is applied through the lead 672 to impress a dc voltage on theemitter 654 to draw dc field emission therefrom. Although the biasvoltage applied to the lead 672 is usually negative, it can be positiveif the EV from cathode 656 is produced by a voltage higher than 2 kv.Then, the emission pattern on the adjacent phosphor screen or witnessplate may be analyzed in conjunction with the value of the dc biasvoltage and current to the emitter 654 to determine the cathode radius,crystallographic status and other morphological characteristicsimmediately after EV generation. Such analysis methods for fieldemission surfaces are well known.

The peak voltage of the picopulser being used to drive the field emitter654 can be determined by varying the bias voltage through the lead 672to offset the pulse voltage to the cathode 656. In this way, the fieldemitter 654 is being used as a very high speed rectifier or detector tomeasure the pulse peak to the cathode 654. To test characteristics ofthe EV's produced, a film or foil of smooth metal, as a witness plate,may be positioned in front of an anode (not shown) positioned in frontof the emitter 654, and connected to that anode. A spacing of up to onemillimeter between the emitter 654 and such an anode can be used invacuum when the system is operated at approximately 2 kv. The impactmark the EV leaves on the witness plate can be analyzed in a scanningelectron microscope to determine the number of EV beads formed and theirpattern of arrival. Many high speed effects can be investigated with thegenerator 650 of FIG. 54. If the output from the pulse generator is keptlow in voltage and a sensitive detector used for detecting emission fromthe field emitter 654, it is possible to effectively measure very shortpulse voltage amplitude by a substitution technique using the high speedrectification ability of the field emitter. The bias voltage appliedthrough lead 672 is substituted for the pulse voltage.

At high levels of pulse voltage, far into what is usually thought of asthe space charge saturation region for a field emitter, the emitter 654generates bunches of electrons that resemble EV's, as detected on anearby witness plate. These small EV's are potentially very useful forspecialized computer-like applications using charge steering.

The field emission generator 650 shown in FIG. 54 is an example of oneof the ways relatively large components can be utilized in reaching thenecessary switching speeds to achieve pure field emission EV production.For practical application, it may be desirable to use a complete systemof compatible microcomponents to fabricate the switching and launchingdevices. Moreover, in view of the small sizes and relatively highvoltages required, more practical devices for utilizing and generatingEV's formed from relatively pure field emission may be constructedutilizing microfabrication.

FIG. 55 shows a microcircuit using thin film techniques to construct acomplete system for producing EV's by field emission without relyingupon external EV generators or bulk components that might complicatehigh speed operation. Here, the switching process is carried out byfeedback on a time scale consistent with the thermal processes in the EVgenerator, that is, the switching rate is equal to or, preferably,faster than the thermal time constants and thermal processes. It isnecessary to switch the emitter on and off in less than 1 ps to preventcathode destruction.

The field emission source shown generally at 680 in FIG. 55 is similarin construction to the tetrode source 510 of FIGS. 46-48. Thus, adielectric base 682 features an elongate groove 684, which may be ofgenerally rectangular cross section, in which is positioned a linecathode source 686 which is operated without being wetted with ametallic coating. A counterelectrode 688 is positioned on the oppositeside of the base 682 from the groove 684 and toward the opposite end ofthe base from the cathode 686. The counterelectrode 688 underlies aportion of the guide groove 684. A control electrode 690 is alsopositioned on the same side of the base 682 as the counterelectrode 688,and extends from a side edge of the base to a position underlying andcrossing under the guide groove 684 between the ends of the cathode 686and the counterelectrode. A feedback electrode 692 is also positioned onthe opposite side of the base 682 from the cathode 686, and extendslaterally across the underside of the base toward the end of thecounterelectrode 688 closer to the cathode. A leg 694 of the feedbackelectrode 692 extends along a recess 696 in the counterelectrode 688whereby the feedback electrode may interact with a generated EV duringthe propagation of the EV along the guide groove 684, generally for thelength of the electrode leg 694.

FIG. 56 shows a circuit diagram at 700 of the field emission source 680of FIG. 55 and associated apparatus for effecting the field emissionproduction of EV's. An energy storage device 702 is connected to thecathode 686, and provided with appropriate negative potential through alead 704. The passive energy source 702 may be a capacitor or a stripdelay line, as used in hydrogen thyratron pulse radar systems forexample, with a resistor or conductor feed. The generating energy source702 typically provides a 1 ps negative pulse when discharged by means ofthe potential change on the control electrode 690. Otherwise, a constantpotential may be applied between the cathode 686 and thecounterelectrode 688.

A phase inverting air core pulse transformer 706 is selectively operatedby a trigger pulse through a lead 708 to apply a positive control biasvoltage, supplied by means of a lead 710, to the control electrode 690to initiate the EV field emission generation at the cathode 686. Thefeedback signal needed to sustain emission after the trigger pulse hasbeen removed, and until the stored energy in the power supply 702 hasbeen depleted, is provided by the transformer 706 by means of thefeedback electrode 692.

The field emitters, such as 654 and 686, used in pure field emissionsources such as those described, should be fabricated from relativelystable material in terms of thermal and ion sputter damage. For example,metal carbides, such as titanium carbide and graphite, provide suchcharacteristics to make good cathodes. Similarly, the dielectricmaterial should be of high stability and high dielectric field strength.Aluminum oxide and diamond-like carbon films exhibit suchcharacteristics. Since there is no self-repairing process available forthe cathodes, as there is with liquid metal wetted sources, it ispreferred to use ultra high vacuum at the emitters to avoid damagethereto by ion bombardment, or modification of the surface workfunction.

Prevailing factors preclude the use of pure field emitters of largesize. The critical limit appears to be approximately one micrometer forthe lateral dimension of an emitter of the type 686 shown in FIG. 55.For cathodes above such size, the stored energy of the associatedcircuitry places an undue thermal strain on the small emitter areaduring emission. Below the one micrometer size range, the field emitterhas the advantage of large cooling effects provided small elementshaving a naturally high surface-to-volume ratio.

22. X-Ray Source

EV's may be utilized to generate X-rays. An X-ray generator, or source,is shown generally at 720 in FIG. 57, and includes a mercury wettedcopper type cathode 722, as illustrated in FIG. 4, and a separator 724equipped with a counterelectrode 726, as shown in FIG. 8, positionedrelative to an anode 728 for generation and propagation of EV's,including possibly EV chains, from the cathode through the separatoraperture to the anode.

It has been found that stoppage of an EV on a material target or anodeis accompanied by a flash of light from the plasma produced and a craterleft as a result of the disruption of the EV and accompanyingexpenditure of energy. A portion of the energy expended is carried offin X-ray production. The X-ray source itself within the target 728 is assmall as the EV, that is, in a range of approximately 1 to 20micrometers in lateral dimension, depending upon how the EV wasoriginally made or selected. The small source of X-rays has a relativelyhigh production efficiency and intensity, providing a high total X-rayoutput compared to the input energy. This phenomenon indicates anintense X-ray production upon disruption of the ordered EV structure,possibly due to the sudden disruption of the large magnetic fieldgenerated by electron motion within the EV.

Output from the cathode 722 and separator 724 impinges on the anodetarget 728 to produce emission of X-rays as indicated schematically inFIG. 57. The material of the target 728 is sufficiently low ininductance to cause the EV to effectively break apart. A low atomicnumber material, such as graphite, minimizes damage due to EVdisruption, and allows relatively easy passage of X-rays produced to theoutput side of the target 728. The X-ray source 720 can be operatedeither in vacuum or in a low pressure gas. For example, in anenvironment of a few torr of xenon gas, the cathode 722 and separator724 may be spaced as far as approximately 60 cm from the anode target728, with a pulse signal of 2 kv applied to the cathode for theproduction of EV's. Analysis of the total X-ray output from the source720 can be accomplished utilizing known techniques, such as usingfilters, or photographic film, or wavelength dispersion spectrometers.However, since the X-ray photons are all generated at approximately thesame time, energy dispersive spectrometers are not able to analyze thespectral energy content of the X-ray output.

The present invention thus provides an X-ray generator, or source,capable for use as a point source of X-rays for application in stopmotion X-ray photography, for example. The X-ray generator of thepresent invention can additionally be used in a wide range of X-rayapplications.

23. Electron Source

EV's moving along a guide will generally produce the emission ofelectrons, which may be collected by a collector electrode, for example.In the case of RC guides, for example, it is possible to collectelectron emission out the top of the guide groove if the groove issufficiently deep and the EV is strongly locked to the bottom of theguide groove, or at least the counterelectrode on the opposite side ofthe dielectric base of the guide. The electrons thus emitted come fromsecondary and field emission sources that have been produced by theenergy of the passing EV. Since these electrons have come from adielectric material with a relatively long RC time constant forrecharge, it is necessary to wait for such recharge until another EV canoccupy the region, and thereby cause further electron emission. In theLC class of guides, this time delay is relatively short since rechargeis supplied by way of metallic electrodes. Electrons can be collectedfor dc output use by simply supplying a collector electrode, since theemitted electrons have been given initial energy by the EV. In the caseof LC guides, any of the electrodes in the guide structures of FIGS. 20or 21 can be utilized as collector electrodes.

The characteristic of an EV that it can cause electron emission enablesthe EV to be effectively used as a cathode for various applications. Aproperly stimulated EV can be made to emit a fairly narrow band ofelectron energies. The primary consideration in using this type ofcathode is determining the mean energy and the energy spread of theemitted electrons. There is also a chopping effect that results fromhaving a definite spacing between the EV's moving along a guide andproducing electron emission, for example. The chopping range isgenerally available from essentially steady emission from a virtuallycontinuous train of EV's to a very pulse-like emission from passing asingle EV or EV chain under an aperture. Consequently, the nature of theEV propagation as well as the guide structure through which the EV's aremoving must be chosen appropriate to the application of the electronemission.

A gated, or chopped, electron emission source is shown generally at 740in FIG. 58, and may be part of a triode like structure. An RC EV guide742 is provided, featuring a guide groove 744 and a counterelectrode(not visible) on the underside of the guide base from the groovegenerally like the EV guide illustrated in FIG. 11. A dielectric plate746 is positioned immediately over the base of the guide 742. The plate746 features openings 748 which overlie the guide groove 744, and arelined with metal coatings 750 which serve as gating electrodes. A thirdelement, not shown, may be an anode or the like positioned above thedielectric plate 746 to receive or collect the emitted electrons; theexact nature of the third element is dictated by the use to which theelectron emission is to be applied.

In operation, one or more EV's are launched or otherwise propagated intothe guide groove 744 as indicated by the arrow I. As discussedhereinabove, secondary or field emission effects associated with thepassage of the EV down the guide groove 744 result in electron emissionwhich may be propagated out of the guide groove, as indicated by thearrow J, the electrons having been given initial propagation energy intheir formation associated with the presence of the EV. In general, theemitted electrons may be further attracted by the third component, suchas an anode (not shown). However, electron propagation to the thirdcomponent is selectively controlled by the application of appropriatepotentials to the control electrodes 750. In general, the potentialapplied to a control electrode 750 will always be negative relative tothe cathode used to generate the EV's. In effect, the gate, or opening,748 in the dielectric 746, in each case, may be opened or closed toelectron passage therethrough by selection of the specific potential onthe respective control electrode 750. To close the gate 748, thepotential on the control electrode 750 is made more negative so that noelectron emission will take place therethrough. To open the gate 748,the potential on the control electrode 750 is made less negative, thatis, relative to the EV-generating cathode, and electron emission throughthe gate is permitted.

As an EV propagates down the guide groove 744, the electron emission isgenerated. However, electrons may pass through the dielectric plate 746to the third electrode component only at the locations of thepassageways 748. Consequently, an EV moving along the guide groove 744causes electron pulses to be emitted through the dielectric plate 746,with the pulses occurring at the locations of the passages 748. Further,a given passage 748 may be closed to electron transmission therethroughby the appropriate potential being placed on the respective controlelectrode 750. Consequently, a selective pattern of electron emissionpulses may be achieved by appropriate application of potentials to thecontrol electrodes 750. The pulse pattern may be further varied bypropagating a train of EV's or EV chains down the guide groove 744 toachieve, for example, an extended pattern of electron emission pulsesalong the array of ports 748, with the potential values placed on thevarious control electrodes 750 themselves changing with time.Consequently, the electron emission pattern may be varied extensively byboth the selection of EV propagation as well as the modulation ofpotentials on the control electrodes 750.

To prevent the EV itself from exiting one of the ports 748, the groove744 should be maintained relatively deep, or alternatively, a spacer(not shown) can be used between the plate 746 and the base of the guide742.

It will be appreciated that a pattern of electron emission ports 748 maybe provided as desired, with appropriate EV guide mechanisms positionedin conjunction therewith. The number and positioning of the ports 748along the guide groove 744 may be varied to select the electron emissionpattern as well. The electron emission ports 748 may also be effectivelythroughbores in a dielectric plate which completely circumscribes eachport, for example. In such case, the control electrodes 750 may alsoline the port walls on all sides.

In general, any type of EV generator that produces the desired EV outputfor the given application may be utilized to provide the EV's forelectron emission. Typically, a version of the electrodeless sourceillustrated in FIG. 49, operating at a low gas pressure, may beutilized. The inert gas pressure in the system might be in the range of10⁻³ torr, and would be in equilibrium throughout the system.

Electron emission by EV propagation, utilizing any of the apparatusdescribed herein, such as the gated electron source 740 illustrated inFIG. 58, may find various applications. For example, various devicesuntil now impractical for failure of the prior art to provide a cathodeof sufficient emission intensity may now be exploited using anEV-generated electron source such as disclosed herein. Such a class ofdevices as the beamed deflection, free electron device, for example, maybe provided utilizing a gated electron source of the type illustrated inFIG. 58, for example.

24. RF Source

Passage of EV's through the LC guides of FIGS. 20 and 21 generates RFfields within the guides, but the interaction with such fields isutilized to guide the EV's, and not to exploit external radiation.However, RF generated by passage of an EV can be coupled out of an EVguide and made available for external application.

FIG. 59 illustrates a general form of an RF source, or generator, showngenerally at 760. A dielectric base 762 featuring an elongate guidegroove 764 provides a guide structure for EV's entering the groove, asindicated by the arrow K. A counterelectrode 766, which may bepositioned on the underside of the dielectric base 762, features aseries of slots 768. The RF production involves a charge induced fieldon the counterelectrode 766. The results are intense if thecounterelectrode is in slotted form. A second electrode, in the form ofa collector, 770 is positioned below the counterelectrode 766, andseparated therefrom by a dielectric. This latter dielectric may bespace, or a layer of dielectric material (not shown). The collector 770features a series of arms, or extensions, 772, with one such extensionpositioned directly below each of the counterelectrode slots 768. AsEV's move along the guide channel 764, the counterelectrode slots 768provide openings for the charge of the EV's to couple to the collector770 wherein the RF field is produced. The RF energy can be tapped fromthe collector 770 by any appropriate circuit, or further radiationsystem.

There is a reciprocal relationship between the EV velocity along theguide channel 764 and the output cavities 768, in conjunction with thecollector electrode arms 772, that determines the frequency of theradiation provided. The frequency produced is equal to the speed of theEV multiplied by the inverse of the spacing between the slots 768.

It will be appreciated that the shapes of the openings 768 in thecounterelectrode 766 determine the wave forms to be produced. Aperiodicwaveforms, which may be employed for driving various computer or timingfunctions, can be generated with the structure shown in FIG. 59 byappropriately shaping the counterelectrode openings 768.

The load on the collector electrode 770 must be proportioned accordingto the bandwidth of the generated waveform. For low frequencies, theoutput of the collector electrode 770 should be connected to atransmission line with resistive termination at its characteristicimpedance. The velocity of the EV's in the guide groove 764 can belocked into synchronous motion by using RF injection or interaction asnoted hereinbefore in the discussion of LC guides. Such synchronizationhelps regulate the periodic rate of the output pulses obtained from thecollector electrode 770.

The wave form generator of FIG. 59 can be operated to provide eitherpositive or negative polarity pulses by differentiation of the EV chargeas the EV passes the slot 768 in the counterelectrode 766. A highimpedance load on the output of the collector electrode 770 producesessentially negative pulses. However, a low load impedance on thecounterelectrode 770 results in the production of first a negative pulseand then a positive one. This pulse form is useful for generatingpositive wave forms used in driving field emission devices into theemitting state, as an example of but one application of the us of EV'sto generate electromagnetic energy.

25. Conclusion

The present invention provides techniques for generating, isolating,manipulating and exploiting EV's, either as individual EV beads or as EVchains. Control of generation and propagation of EV's has extensiveapplications, some of which have been noted hereinbefore. Thepropagating EV's themselves are sources of energy, includingelectromagnetic energy in the RF range available by utilizing an EV RFsource, such as illustrated in FIG. 59, or a traveling wave device, suchas illustrated in FIG. 50 or 51. The emission of electrons accompanyingEV propagation across a dielectric surface, for example, enables thepropagating EV's to be treated as a virtual cathode with the use of theEV source of FIG. 58, for example. By appropriate selection of thegating pattern in such an electron source, a variety of applications areavailable wherever intense electron beams are required, for example. Thepicoscope described hereinbefore also utilizes electron emissionattendant to EV propagation to provide a fast response, miniatureoscilloscope for analysis of electrical signals, for example. Similarly,the picopulser of FIG. 52 utilizes the rapid communication of largeelectric charge to produce fast rise and fall high voltage pulses. Suchfast pulses have a variety of uses, including the operation of purefield emission devices, such as the EV generator of FIG. 54.

The ability to produce and selectively manipulate EV's provides a newelectrical technology with several very desirable features. In general,the components of this technology are extremely small, and operable overa range of applied voltage. As noted, operations carried out with the EVtechnology are very rapid, and involve the rapid communication of largeconcentrations of energy in the form of the EV's. The variousgenerators, launchers, guides, separators, selectors and splitters, forexample, are analogous to vacuum tubes, transistors and the like ofprior art electronic technology, for example.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing disclosure of the presentinvention that the various devices described herein may be combined tofit given applications. A generator from the various generatorsdisclosed herein may be utilized with one or more guide devices toprovide the EV's utilized in a picoscope, for example. An EV generatormay be combined with guides and one or more splitters and/or one or moreswitches to provide multiple EV paths which, in the case of theswitches, may be selected for EV propagation. An EV generator may becombined with guides and one or more picopulsers to provide pulseoutputs at desired locations and, utilizing a variable time delay arm ofa splitter such as illustrated in FIG. 33, to provide time variablepulsing. Similarly, any of the energy conversion devices, such as thetraveling wave circuits of FIGS. 50 and 51, or the RF source of FIG. 59or the electron emission source of FIG. 58, may be combined with thevarious other EV manipulation components such as guides, splitters andswitches. It will further be appreciated that EV selectors, separatorsand launchers may be utilized where appropriate to provide EV's of thedesired charge size, launched into a specified guide or other device,and free of plasma discharge contaminants. The electron camera itself isusable in analyses of EV behavior itself, as well as in other analyses,including but not limited to the analyses of time-varying electricfields through the combination with the picoscope, or themulti-dimensional scope arrays illustrated in FIG. 44, for example.

Referring now to FIG. 62, there is illustrated an alternative source forgenerating EV's, one which is sometimes referred to hereinafter as achannel source. The channel source 900 includes a ceramic base 901having a cathode 902 in a guide channel 903. A distributed resistor 904underlies the channel 903, the resistor having its beginning edgecontiguous with the cathode 902. A plurality of dynodes 905, only two ofwhich are illustrated, successively underlie the channel 903. Acounterelectrode 906 is located further along the channel 903, but islocated on the underside of the ceramic base 901. FIG. 63 illustrates anend view of the channel source 900. A ceramic cover 907, not illustratedin FIG. 62, can be used if desired. FIG. 64 illustrates a typicalvoltage profile for the channel source 900, going from the negativevoltage on the cathode, to the progressively more positive voltagesapplied to the dynodes 905 and finally to the counterelectrode 906,identified in the profile as the anode. The counterelectrode 906 extendsunder the dynodes 905 to increase capacity.

In the operation of the channel source 900, it should be appreciatedthat the initial source of electrons, illustrated as a cathode 902, isconventional, and can be any known source of electrons or photons. Anyuseful application of the channel source preferably commences with aneasily controllable process. This can be done most easily at the inputof the distributed electron multiplier as only a few electrons orphotons of sufficient energy are needed to get over the noise level ofthe device. These input events can be turned on and introduced into theinput by any number of known processes. The gain of the input electronmultiplier, whether distributed or discrete elements are used, shouldnot be so high as to amplify single electron or photon events to the EVtriggering threshold level; otherwise, false EV generation will occur.

Following the initial input of electrons or photons, the high gainportion of the electron multiplier, illustrated as the resistor materialregion 904 around the guide between the cathode and the first dynode, ischarged with the task of increasing the number of electrons from theinitial few to some very high number. Typically, the gain of such amultiplier channel is in the range of over one million. This value isoften chosen because it is sufficient to provide adequate sensitivity soas not to over burden the input triggering system and also low enoughnot to produce spurious noise bursts. This gain is most often controlledby the value of the voltage applied to the input distributed dynodesection of the multiplier. Geometric factors play an important part inproviding the gain of the input multiplier section. Uniformity of thevoltage gradient in the channel is very important to obtain, as ishaving an adequate secondary electron emission coefficient on the wallsof the channel Once these factors have been provided, the only functionof the input section is to build up the level of electron density tonear the saturation level for this type of electron multiplier wherebyno further increase in electron density can occur due to the limitedenergy storage of the distributed elements. This limited charge densityis then handed off to the second section of the electron multiplierwhereby the charge density can be further increased.

The second section of electron multiplier is adapted to film technologyand reduced to the size of both the EV guide following and to thedistributed channel electron multiplier feeding the input.

It is the function of this channel source to raise the charge density tothe critical level for forming an EV. The prime requirement for doingthis is to have sufficient stored electrical energy available to thepassing charge cloud to allow the charge density to increase to the EVthreshold formation level. Since the charge density is sufficiently highbefore this threshold level is reached to present a severe space chargesaturation effect, the field intensity along the multiplier guide mustbe adequate to overcome this space charge.

Both the need for increased field intensity and increased energy storagelevel operate in the same direction and dictate designs that stress thedielectric material in the high charge density region of the multiplier.In FIG. 62 the discrete dynodes 905 represent any number of dynodesrequired to raise the charge density to the appropriate level. Inaddition to the dynodes, the additional electrode 906 serves thefunction of increasing the capacity and energy storage of the dynodeswithout being connected directly to them. The dynodes 905 are thusconnected to a source of positive voltage via a voltage divider (notillustrated) that produces the most desirable voltage gradient,illustrated in FIG. 64. This voltage gradient serves to pull theelectrons through the channel increasing the charge and charge densityas they go. To maintain this voltage gradient in the presence of themetallic dynodes it is essential that the dynodes be very narrow in thedirection of electron travel. A dimension of about one channel width or20 micrometers represents a reasonable maximum. It is not essential forthe electrons to actually strike either the dynodes 905 or thecounterelectrode 906. These electrodes can be covered with a thindielectric material having a high secondary emission ratio provided thematerial is doped with metal to increase the conductivity. An aluminumoxide film material doped with tungsten or molybdenum is a good choice.

The initial phase of the EV generation process uses the familiar rammingphenomenon, sometimes, referred to as a Raudorf ram, having the abilityto accelerate electrons from 15 KV to 15 MEV. When a sufficiently highcharge density has been reached, either by direct electron emission fromthe solid walls of the guide and dynodes or by electron wave phenomena,EV's are formed and proceed along the multiplier section into whateverguide one chooses to use.

The foregoing description of the operation of the channel source ispremised upon the discovery that an EV can be formed by raising theelectron density of a region of space to the EV formation level throughthe use of secondary emission from nearby sources, coupled with theaccompanying electron ram effect. A closed channel shape of dielectricmaterial, for electron containment, coated with a resistance material todistribute potential and provide a field gradient for electrons, is aprincipal element of the channel source. It is necessary to havesufficient energy storage in the channel, preferably in the form ofdistributed capacity to a fixed potential electrode, to supply the peakcurrent demanded by the EV formation process; otherwise, saturation canset in and prevent the formation of an EV. A very suitable material forthe dielectric material is tungsten-doped aluminum oxide.

It should be appreciated that the channel source typically has a need tohave a field alongside the channel that can be rapidly regenerated afterthe formation of an EV. This charge regeneration could be provided bythe use of a resistor chain connected to a power supply (notillustrated). The power drain due to such resistor chain would be quitehigh when the resistance value is low enough to form an EV, thuscreating a severe heat buildup in the source. This would dictate the useof a satisfactory refractory material, such as the tungsten-dopedaluminum oxide. However, by using fixed potentials to the lumped dynodes(instead of the resistor chain), the heat problem is further alleviated.

If preferred, a gas can be used in the channel source, thus increasingthe efficiency of electron generation and to aid in removing the chargefrom the walls of the channel. Moreover, by using gas, a high value ofchannel resistance can be used.

Referring now to FIG. 65, there is illustrated an LC guide structure 950bent in a circle to depict a circulator for EV's. The EV's are injectedinto the closed loop circulator 950 through the feed and exit line 952.Coupled to the feed and exit line 952 are a pair of switch points 954and 956, both of which are electrodes. The switch points 954 and 956 arenothing more than isolated parts of the LC guides herein described, withthe isolation being obtained through the use of inductive or resistiveelements. By applying appropriate voltages from the power supply 958through the conductors 960 and 962 to the switch points 954 and 956,respectively, the injected EV is deflected 90° into the circulator path.In a similar manner, for extraction, appropriate voltages are applied tothe circulating EV, causing it to again be deflected 90° and thus beonce again in the feed and exit line 952. FIG. 66, a cross-sectionalview of the circulator 950 taken along the lines 66--66 of FIG. 65,illustrates the LC guide structure in greater detail. The LC guidestructure includes a ceramic substrate 970 and a lower RF shield 972, aswell as an upper RF shield 974. A circulating EV 976 is illustrated asbeing centered within the interior of the LC guide, surrounded by acenter guide electrode 978, as well as an upper guide electrode 980 anda lower guide electrode 982.

In the operation of the circulator illustrated in FIGS. 65 and 66, itshould be appreciated that the photon generation and subsequentradiation produced by this method springs from the fact that a chargeunder acceleration radiates energy. The frequency of radiation isdetermined by the acceleration of the charge while the intensity varieswith a large number of factors related to the geometry of the radiationsource and number of charges involved. Thus a radiation source can beproduced by a slowly moving charge in a small radius or a fast movingcharge in a large radius. The time for completing one full circledefines the frequency of radiation. Furthermore, the radiation patternfrom a circulating charge is equivalent to two lines of chargesoscillating in a sinusoidal manner with a phase angle of 90 degrees toeach other.

As is described with respect to FIG. 66, there is illustrated a lower RFshield 972 and an upper RF shield 974. As long as both shields 972 and974 are used, the circulator 950 represents a storage mechanism foreither energy or information. The principal difference between theradiation of energy from circulation and the storage of energy bycirculation is in whether or not the circulation unit is effectivelyshielded at the radiation frequency. Without shielding there isradiation and a possibility of using it in some beneficial way. Withshielding there is no radiation external to the circulator and the samedevice exchanges radiation between the shield and the generator toproduce storage of energy. The efficiency of storage is a directfunction of the shielding efficiency.

Thus, by proper shielding, the radiation resulting from the circulatingEV is maintained within the confines of the circulator. By removing theshield 974, either totally or through the use of windows in the shield974, the RF energy is radiated out from the circulator 950.

Although the embodiment of FIG. 65 contemplates the radiation coming"out of the paper", those skilled in the art will recognize that by useof appropriate windows, the radiation can be beamed towards the centerpoint of the circulator, or alternatively, beamed outwardly, i.e., inthe same plane as the paper away from the center point of thecirculator.

In addition to fundamental frequency radiators, there is a class ofharmonic radiators that depend upon circulation of the charge at a lowerspeed and having this charge excite a periodic structure that in turn iscoupled to space for radiation at the frequency of the periodic array.The method of radiation resulting from the embodiment illustrated inFIG. 65 is of this latter kind. By simply exposing the upper guide slots955 of the LC guide to the region of space to receive the radiation, theoutput function is accomplished. For ease of illustration, there areeighteen such output slots 955 in FIG. 65, although the number can beany number desired. The slots 955 are in the upper guide electrode 980,illustrated in FIG. 66. Through the use of eighteen slots, the 18thharmonic frequency of radiation is produced. If there were seventy-twoslots 955, the 72nd harmonic frequency would be produced. If there areno such slots, the harmonic number is reduced to the fundamental of onecirculation per cycle of radiation.

Assuming it to be desirable to circulate the EV's within the circulator950 at a precise rate, to thus maintain an assigned frequency, avelocity synchronization system can be used, coupled with the guidingaction of the LC guide. With such a synchronization, the mean velocityof an EV chain is locked into the frequency in the LC guide, such thatthe spacing of the individual EV's is forced to fall intosynchronization with the slot period of the guide. This effect is causedby the periodic field produced in the guide, and the ability of thisfield to bunch the EV train into that field by accelerating the slowEV's and retarding the fast EV's. By so doing, a plurality of suchcirculators can be accurately phase locked to a master source of stableradiation energy. By properly adjusting the phasing of an array ofcirculating radiators, the radiation is easily shaped into tightpatterns, steerable electrically over a wide angle from a simple flatplate containing such an array, all as is commonly known in the field ofphased array antennas.

Referring now to FIG. 67, there is illustrated an alternative embodimentof an RF generator 990. For purposes of illustration, the generator 990is an RC guide, elsewhere described herein, and having a guide channel993 having a dielectric base which is formed in a pattern of one-halfcircles. In addition to the one-half circles, other nonlinear walls canbe used to cause the EV to accelerate. When an EV is introduced at theentrance 991, and caused to pass through the RC guide at a constantvelocity, then the radiation from this motion has a frequency of oneperiod of the "wiggle" caused by the turning of the guide. Thepredetermined number of oscillations or wiggles in the RF generator 990,spaced between the entry 991 and exit 992, determines the length of thepulse of radiation emitted. There is a motion of the effective radiationsource, and those skilled in the art will recognize the need to factorin this phase motion in calculating the far-field radiation pattern ofsuch a device. Instead of using an RC guide to build such a device, LCguides can also be used, but are slightly more complex to manufacture.

By employing any number of a wide variety of patterns with a constantvelocity EV it is possible to perform many frequency chirping orfrequency modulation effects. The harmonic content of the emission canbe controlled with the pattern shape. The amplitude of the emittedradiation can be varied from one region to another by varying thecoupling coefficient from the guide to the radiation space, by changingthe amount of charge in the wiggler guide or by changing the amplitudeof the wiggler pattern and then making a corresponding change in the EVvelocity to keep the period the same. Various length pulses can be madeby progressively switching the EV from a long path length to shorterpaths by using the deflection switch technique elsewhere describedherein. It should also be clear that the emission pattern of the wigglertype of radiator can be very effectively controlled by both shape of thepattern and phasing of the EV's to dynamically produce both patternshape variations and beam scanning. Those skilled in the art of phasedarray antennas are, of course, familiar with the resulting radiationpatterns.

The circulators and the "wiggle" type of radiators hereinabovedescribed, fabricated using thin film technology, are directlyapplicable to a wide range of collision avoidance and communicationsapplications where the generator array is directly exposed to theenvironment being radiated. For example, by using EV circulators havinga period of one wavelength, and when desired to have a frequency of 3GH_(z) (a wavelength of 10 cm), this entails the use of a circulatorhaving a physical dimension of 3 cm for light velocity circulation or0.3 cm for 1/10 light velocity EV's These radiators, being about 0.12inches in diameter, can be coupled to synchronizers to stabilize thefrequency of radiation, and can be placed in an array of thousands laidout on a plane substrate of only a few inches on a side. The directionalpattern of the array, and consequently the direction the beam issteered, can be determined by the phasing of the radiators. For a pulsesystem, they have to be turned on at different times as well as phasecontrolled. This is a complex switching pattern for thousands ofsources, but it is within the ability of an EV switching system to dothis. Switching can be accomplished on a separate substrate withcapacity coupling between the two plates being used for connection.

Referring now to FIGS. 68-81, there is illustrated a flat panel displayand various components used in such a display, wherein each of suchcomponents involve either the generation, guidance or manipulation ofEV's. Basic to the construction of such a flat panel display is thedeflection switch involved in FIG. 68, wherein the force diagram showsvarious states of stability for an EV on surfaces and in grooves orguides. The single edge with a counterelectrode is very stable andgenerally the EV cannot be detached from such a corner. This is evenmore true for the case of an EV in a tight guide. A wide guide with acounterelectrode presents an unstable case for the EV when it isinitially in the center of the guide. The case of interest for thedeflection switch operation is illustrated in the last line of FIG. 68as being marginally stable with the narrow counterelectrode shown. Inpractice, the counterelectrode is tapered to a point as the electrodeenters the wide region of the guide, as is shown schematically in FIG.69.

FIG. 69 shows two different configurations for deflection switches.Although deflection switches are discussed herein before with respect toFIGS. 36-38, it seems appropriate to again discuss deflection switchesin a more generalized manner. The view on the left is designed to haveelectrical output while the view on the right shows a single input and adouble output for the EV path. No electrical signal output is shown,although this is also possible. The output would only be a sharp pulseas the EV passed if the coupling was for ac only. By moving theelectrodes into the direct line of contact with electrons emitted by theEV, the output can be made to have a dc component and the charge canremain on the electrode until dispelled by leakage or another load.

In both of the configurations shown in FIG. 69, the sensitivity of theswitch, or the gain, is determined by the balance of the system to allforces that effect the passing EV. A careful balance can produce a highgain device. By purposely offsetting any parameter of the deflectionswitch that tends to guide the EV to one output or the other, a bias isestablished that must be overcome by the input deflection electrodes.

Referring now to FIG. 70, an EV guide is shown opening into a widerregion that is bounded on the sides by deflection electrodes 1001 and1002 and has a symbolized, tapered counterelectrode 1003 under the entryguide. This is the same as the deflection switch described earlier. Themain difference in this device is the use of photoconductors 1004, 1005,1006 and 1007 on opposite sides of the wide channel and a cross couplingbetween the photoconductors and the deflectors. A power supplyconnection is shown attached to the photoconductors for supplyingpotential to the electrodes when the photoconductor is activated by EVpassage. It is obvious that the EV must be in an optically excited stateor the guide wall material must fluoresce with EV passage to accomplishthe desired result. A wide variety of photoconductors may be used here,but diamond films are particularly desirable due to their sensitivity toUV emission and insensitivity to thermal emissions. There is also adividing barrier 1008 shown between the two halves of the wide portionof the component, whereby the EV traversing the channel from one end tothe other will go on one side or the other of the barrier.

With the configuration shown, there is a field set up across thedeflectors connected to the photoconductors whenever an EV is deflectedto one channel or the other by application of voltage to the inputdeflection electrodes. This effect is provided by the activation of thephotoconductors when the EV is in the guide channel and the conductionprocess connects the deflectors to the power supply momentarily.Photoconductors are known to turn on within picoseconds of the appliedradiation in devices called Auston switches and they show low impedence.Upon passage of the EV the photoconductor returns more slowly to thequiescent, high resistance state. Memory of the event is stored simplyas a charge on the dielectric material. Refreshing is provided bypassing an EV through the structure often enough to make up for lostcharge. Normally, updating by a very low EV firing rate can be used torefresh storage.

There is an interesting ancillary function available using thisphotoconductive technique. The memory state of a particular cell in thedisplay array can be accessed from outside the display by opticalillumination of the cell. If this effect is used in conjunction with alight producing display unit, there is an implied feedback from thephosphor light source and the gain of the process cannot be carried tohigh levels without danger of instability. Neveetheless, this is apotentially useful function for altering a stored state on a display.The principal means for increased stability would be by using a violetlight for the light gun doing the data modification and a photoconductorsensitive to violet wavelenghts.

By changing the connections between the photoconductors and thedeflectors in another cell, it is possible to repeat information fromone cell of the switch to another. If the potentials applied to theinput cell are such as to deflect the EV to the left hand path, then theleft hand path is also taken in the second cell. By cascading two suchcells it is clear that whatever information is available at the inputcell when the EV goes by is conveyed to the second cell, either forwardor backward with respect to the direction of EV travel.

Referring now to FIG. 71, there is illustrated, schematically, a diodeactivated storage device. The description of this device is very similarto the description of the photo activated storage device. This device isalso based upon photon activation, but the process used can accommodatea much wider range of radiation wavelengths, especially on the lowfrequency end of the spectrum, than can a photoconductor. The devicediscussed here is based upon obtaining the required potentials for thedeflectors from the wideband disturbance the EV produces upon enteringthe guide region near the pickup electrodes.

For this embodiment, the photoconductors have been replaced with fieldemission diodes 1010, 1011, 1012 and 1013, although any rectifiers canbe used provided they have good high frequency response, an effectiveoperating bias voltage and adequate inverse voltage. An operatingvoltage in the range of 50 volts is required. Field emission rectifiersare known to operate into the optical wavelength band with goodefficiency. They operate well at 50 volts and they compliment theconstruction technology used in the fabrication of EV structures ingeneral. As in conventional circuit diagrams, the field emitter cathodeis shown as a pointed electrode and this signifies that it is theelectrode that will be positive, when an alternating current or RF fieldis impressed upon the electrodes. Field emitters also have a thresholdvoltage that must be attained before they emit electrons. In this case,the external potentials that had been used in the photo activateddeflector can be removed unless they are desirable as bias potentials.In any event, the diode electrodes shown in the drawing must be operatedat RF ground.

All other functions of this configuration are the same as the photoactivated storage device described earlier. If an EV enters the lefthand path, the surge or disturbance creates a momentary alternatingpotential that is changed into a dc potential on the deflectorelectrodes and remains there until leakage or an unwanted disturbanceremoves it. In all designs care must be taken to prevent excessive EVnoise in the deflection region; otherwise, this noise signal can be fedinto the diodes and produce a false state of storage.

Referring now to FIG. 72, there is illustrated a charge activatedstorage device. As in the other switches the EV enters the narrow guideand is conducted into the expanded portion of the guide over the taperedcounter electrode. The deflector electrode 1015 is shown as both inputand output for this storage device. Of course another deflectionelectrode can be added to insert an input or it's compliment into thedevice. As in the other configurations, the storage is accomplished byusing charge storage on the deflection electrode 1015 and associatedcollector electrode 1016.

Operation of this storage device depends upon the electron emission fromthe EV itself or from nearby structures that are excited by the passageof the EV. The simple collection of electrons will not produce all ofthe effects needed, however. It is most beneficial to have a processthat produces a positive going voltage on an electrode when an electronarrives at the electrode. Secondary electron emission is such a processand many devices have been devised in the past using the effect and theyare well known in the literature. The efficiency of the secondaryelectron production is low, rarely being above 2%, but even with thislow efficiency the process is useful. A requirement for the process towork is that there be an electrode 1017 near the switching electrodethat remains positive relative to the switching electrode in order tocollect the secondary electrons. In addition, this electrode 1017 shouldbe somewhat shielded from the primary electrons. In our case thiscollector electrode 1017 can be located on a portion of the cover plate.This electrode 1017 is shown schematically in the drawing with a +signbeside it signifying a connection to a positive power supply. A currentlimiting effect, such as inductance, should be provided in this powersupply line to prevent excessive current being drawn when an EV passesclose to it.

In operation, this type of device depends upon the fact that an EVpassing over an electrode will suppress most emitted electrons with thenegative space charge field, Nevertheless, allowing the electrode tocharge negative. In the drawing, when an EV passes down the left side ofthe switch and passes over the collector electrode 1016, both thecollector and the deflector connected to it are charged negatively. Inthe wavelengths. case when the EV passes down the right side of theswitch the emitted electrons strike the collector from a greaterdistance and velocity, allowing secondary emission to occur and emitelectrons that are collected by the positive electrode 1017 and thuscharge the collector 1016 and deflector 1015 positive. The storage andpropagation of information is the same as in the previous cases.

Referring now to FIG. 73, there is illustrated a pair of switchingdevices 1020 and 1021, which allow the output on a storage device to beinvolved in an EV pathway change. The device 1020 is similar to thedevice illustrated in FIG. 72, but having two outputs, 1022 and 1023,separated by the barrier 1024. The outputs can also be taken from theelectrodes. This device also contains an additional input deflectoranode 1025, if needed.

The device 1021 involves a configuration that is amenable to counting bytwo. The device 1021 includes a deflection anode 1026 and another anode1027 which functions both as a deflection anode and a collector anode.With each successive passage of an EV, the state of the electrodeschange and the output paths, as well as the potential, are alternatedbetween the two available states.

Referring now to FIG. 74, there is illustrated a storage device 1030which sets the state of storage with the passage of an EV. The device isbasically a charge activated storage device with three inputs and twooutputs. When an EV is directed into either of the two outboard inputs1031 or 1032, it then proceeds down that side of the device and setswhatever potential on the collector and deflector that is appropriate.Testing or sampling of the previously stored state can be done bydirecting an EV into the center channel 1033. Regeneration of the storedstate is also accomplished by interrogating the state of storage.

A very useful function for storage devices in a flat panel display is toemploy them in a stepping register configuration. Such a configurationis shown in FIG. 75 using charge activated devices, although any of thestorage devices herein described would do the job just as well.

The most noticable feature of this device is that the information flowis directed in the opposite direction to the EV travel by means of backcoupling the collector of one stage to the deflector on another stage ofstorage. Outputs are shown going to gates that will be used in the flatpanel display device, although such outputs are useful for a wide rangeof electronic functions. Data input to such a line of stepping registersis applied to the deflector 1040 of the first cell in the line or at theopposite end from where the EV is injected. Whenever an EV is injectedinto the system, the data stored is stepped to the right on cell witheach successive passage.

Referring now to FIG. 76, there is illustrated a block diagram of a flatpanel display which makes use of the devices illustrated in FIGS. 68-75.Before describing the circuitry of FIG. 76 in detail, it should beappreciated that the following Tables 1-4 are included to betterunderstand the operation of the system.

TABLE 1 PHYSICAL PARAMETERS

SIZE OF DISPLAY SCREEN.=400 mm×400 mm (16"×16")

NUMBER OF ACTIVE LINES AND COLUMNS. 2,000×2,000

NUMBER OF PIXELS. 4,000,000

MAXIMUM PIXEL SIZE. 0.2 mm×0.2 mm (200 micrometers sq.)

ENVELOPE IS EDGE SEALED GLASS SUPPORTED INTERNALLY BY LAYERS OF ACTIVEEV COMPONENTS FABRICATED ON REGISTERED THIN METAL SHEETS.

THICKNESS OF DISPLAY IS DETERMINED BY PHYSICAL STRENGTH REQUIREMENTS OFBETWEEN 1 AND 3 mm.

DIMENSIONAL STABILITY AND DISTORTION OF IMAGE IS LIMITED ONLY BY THERMALPROPERTIES CF GLASS PLATE.

NUMBER OF LEAD WIRE INTO VACUUM ENVELOPE EQUALS 6 MINIMUM TO 30 MAXIMUM,DEPENDING UPON HOW MUCH OF THE SYNCHRONIZATION CIRCUITRY IS DONE WITHINTHE ENVELOPE.

TABLE 2 SYSTEM PARAMETERS

TRICOLOR SYSTEM USING PHOSPHORS FOR FULL COLOR RANGE.

SEVEN BINARY LEVELS FOR SETTING OF EACH COLOR INTENSITY. (CONTRAST RATIORANGE=127)

TOTAL PICTURE MEMORY ON SCREEN=4,000,000×7×3=84 MEGA BITS=10.5 MEGABYTES.

VIDEO BANDWIDTH UP TO 100 MH_(z).

FRAME RATE FROM 0 TO 1 KH_(z). (NOMINALLY 10 H_(z))

BRIGHTNESS FLICKER EFFECTS ESSENTIALLY ZERO DUE TO INTERNAL STORAGE.

TABLE 3 PHOSPHOR SCREEN PARAMETERS

BRIGHTNESS CONTROL FROM ZERO TO FULL PHOSPHOR SATURATION BY USING PULSERATE CONTROL OF EV ELECTRON SOURCE. (0 TO 10,000 fL)

MEAN PHOSPHOR CURRENT AT 100% DUTY FACTOR=200 MICROAMPERES

PHOSPHOR ACCELERATING VOLTAGE=10 kv.

POWER TO PHOSPHOR SCREEN=2 WATTS.

ELECTRONIC CHARGES REQUIRED PER LINE=2×10⁻⁴ / 1.6×10⁻¹⁹ =1.25×10¹⁵chg./s/2,000 LINES=6.3×10¹¹ chg./s/LINE.

ELECTRONIC CHARGES REQUIRED PER PIXEL=6.3×10¹¹ /2,000 =3.2×10⁸.

MEASURED CHARGES FROM A SINGLE EV PULSE AT A DISTANCE OF 7 mm INTO A0.05 mm DIAMETER HOLE=10⁷.

CALCULATED CHARGES INTO DISPLAY PIXEL AT 0.7 mm DISTANCE=10 ⁹ FOR ASINGLE EV PULSE.

TABLE 4 STORAGE ELEMENT PARAMETERS

CAPACITY OF STORAGE ELEMENT=10⁻¹⁵ F.

CHARGE AND VOLTAGE ON STORAGE ELEMENT=6×15⁵ ELECTRONS FOR 100 VOLTS.

CURRENT FLOW UPON SWITCHING ALL STORAGE ELEMENTS (84 Mbits) AT 10 HzRATE=8.4×10⁷ ×6×10⁵ ×10×1.6×19⁻¹⁹ =8×10⁻⁵ AMPERES

POWER CONSUMED IN SWITCHING=100 VOLTS×8×10⁻⁵ AMPERES=8×10⁻³ WATTS.

ELECTRONIC CHARGES REQUIRED PER LINE=6×10⁵ ×2,000 PIXELS=1.2×10⁹.

EV TRANSIT TIME PER LINE FOR 500 VCLT VELOCITY. (1.3×10⁹ cm/s or 0.04c)=31 NANOSECONDS.

EV TRANSIT TIME PER PIXEL=16 PICOSECONDS.

Referring again to FIG. 76, it should be appreciated that this circuitshows only one layer of the seven layer system. Appropriate binary videois fed into the system and an external synchronization system does thecounting necessary to feed the various EV sources and line gate. Suchcounting can be done within the display device although this specializesit for a particular information format. External control of data allowsa much wider variety of information formats to be used. The data isshown progressing from left to right on a line and each line is shownfeeding from top to bottom.

The brightness control used in this system varies the frequency offiring of the main EV lines that are used to generate electrons for thephosphor screen. Any conceivable configuration of these sources can beused from one EV source per line to one source for the entire systemswitched by appropriate deflection switches as is shown in FIG. 79,covering line selection technique. The individual gates on each line areresponsible for pixel information content at whatever level of grey orcolor is appropriate.

FIG. 77 shows an end view of one of the data lines. The open channel EVguide that serves as the electron source to stimulate the phosphor isshown on the lower plate 1050. There are seven separate metal platesabove this level, each carrying stepping registers that treat theappropriate contrast level for one of the desired primary colors. It isintended that these metal plates with their associated dielectricmaterials be assembled in a stack that is aligned with each other. Onlytwo of these plates are shown and they are not to scale. The gatingaction is controlled in much the same fashion as is the conventionalgrid modulation of a single spot cathode ray tube.

FIG. 78 is a top view of a section of gates showing the line of steppingregisters that control the gates. An EV run is shown under the gateregion as well as traversing the stepping register region.

FIG. 79 shows the layout of the line selector that is responsible forselecting and feeding EVs into the appropriate line of steppingregisters. Biased deflection switches are shown and this is simply aswitch that is geometrically proportioned to send an EV straight forwardunless a voltage is applied to the switch input from the line selectorstepping register. The appropriate frequencies for driving the variousfunctions are shown and the waveform is a simple pulse with a width ofthe basic binary video pulse.

Referring now to FIGS. 80, 81 and 82, there is illustrated an LRC guidedevice 1060 which can be used with the flat panel display, but is notconcerned directly with logic, and can be used in many otherapplications in which it is desired to guide an EV. This device involvesan effect that is similar to an LRC circuit available in what isotherwise a simple RC guide. This addition greatly improves the rechargetime constant of the RC guide without necessitating doping of thedielectric material. Stray charge is removed by using a thin metalliccoating 1062 directly on the walls of the guide 1064. This charge isconveyed to the end of the guide by the high inductance path of theslender guide configuration, thus preventing excessive charge drain uponthe EV. Termination of the conductive material at the end of the guidemust also be done in an inductive fashion with appropriate damping by aresistive component. This resistive component is most conveniently doneby making a thin film of conductor on the guide. The thickness ofcoating 1062 would optimally be in the range of 200 to 500 angstromswhere good optical reflectance is obtained for the EV, but where theresistance along the channel is moderately high. Aluminum and molybdenumare good classes of material for coating the guide. This techniquerequires the coating of the cover plate above an EV guide for mostapplications, but can be eliminated for applications requiring guideswith an open top for free electron emission. In the drawing the guide isshown going off the end of the plate but the charge collected on theguide walls is shown going to some ground path via a high inductancelead or film of conductive material. The dimensions for the guide aresomewhat inconsequential, because the effect of LRC charge removalscales to all size guides.

In regard to FIG. 76, there was an indication of a need for binary videodata to drive the stepping registers, although in discussing thatcircuitry, there was no means described to derive this data from thewideband analogue video that is needed for a high resolution displaysystem. Moreover, with regard to FIG. 76, it was suggested that thisconversion be done external to the display device proper. It may be moreappropriate to do the job internally. Accordingly, the followingdescription of FIG. 83 is presented for using EV technology to do thejob.

The overall action of the analogue to digital encoder 1070 is to takewhatever analogue voltage that appears on the deflection plates, withintheir design limits, and change this to an output code that satisfiesthe binary data requirements of the stepping registers. This is a formof look up table operation or ROM. Due to the small size of the device,typically 3 mm overall for use with the largest guides known to beuseful in information processing, the operating band width can be high.It is expected that operation can be secured at several hundredmegahertz. In the display device example under discussion, the firingfrequency of the EV source would be expected to satisfy the Nyquistsampling criterion of 2.1 times the highest frequency in the analoguevideo information.

An EV source 1072 is shown schematically, preferably a field emissionsource to accommodate the high pulse repetition rate, followed by anoise extractor 1074 to assure the quietest EV and therefore one that ismost accurately deflected in the following deflection fields. In thesimplest case a noise extractor is just a good guide that gives the EVtime to rearrange itself before being emitted into an interaction space.In the extreme case, the extractor must be designed to absorb radiationin a particularly active band of frequencies that are known to exist.This absorption technique is a common practice with low noise electronbeam work. The end result desired is easily shown by observing theresponse of the EV to deflection fields by watching the deflectionregion with an electron camera. In this regard, the launching portion ofthe encoder is performing the function of a picoscope.

The exit of the noise extractor guide 1074 is terminated with a taperedcounterelectrode on a flat plane. Every precaution, such as tapering theexit of the guide, must be taken to prevent electric field surges fromoccurring in this region; otherwise, they will induce erratic motion onthe EV path. A terminating resistor for the transmission line drivingthe deflection plates is shown in the drawing. The resistance of thismaterial must not be too low or otherwise the EV will destroy itself onthe resistor. Following the deflector a region called expansion space isshown. This is just a region that is put in to allow a larger physicalentry for the selector guides that follow. The expansion space must havea charge dispelling coating applied to it and it is best to graduallytaper the resistance, measured in ohms per square, from the low value inthe region of the deflectors to a higher value in the region of theexpansion space.

As many selector guides are required as is dictated by the complexity ofthe encoding being done, although there will be limits set by theeffective "noise" or unpredictability of the deflection system and EVpath. Once the EV has entered the selector guide it is conducted to aregion that is responsible for setting the potential on the linesfeeding binary video data to the stepping registers. For convenience inthe drawing, only one guide is shown connected to these lines. This lineshows two different size bumps that symbolize the effect sought here. Itis necessary to set the potential of these output lines to either a 1 ora 0 state as defined by the voltage on them. These are permanentlyassigned effects and every time an EV goes through any one particularguide, the same voltage is set on the line. The setting is similar tothe one discussed herein with respect to FIG. 72. Basically, to set anegative voltage the EV is simply run over the lead wire. To set apositive voltage, secondary electron emission is invoked.

Although a wire is shown in the sketch it is also possible to use EVguides for the function of conveying information to the binary videoinputs if a path for doing this is available. In such a case a devicesimilar to that illustrated in FIG. 74 would be used at the junctionbetween the selector guides and the binary video guide. If a path is notavailable due to having the stepping registers located on separatesubstrates or layers, wire are the obvious choice.

FIGS. 84 and 85 illustrate a phenomenon in dealing with EV's that is notavailable when using conventional wiring methods. A ceramic substrate1100 has a pair of intersecting guide channels 1101 and 1102, suchchannels typically being arranged at 90° with respect to each other. Asillustrated in FIG. 83, the guide channel 1101 has a counterelectrode1103 running underneath, while the guide channel 1102 has acounterelectrode 1104, with an insulator 1105 separating thecounterelectrodes 1103 and 1104. The insulator 1105 is considered to beoptional, and will not be needed in most applications. With somecircuits, the channels 1101 and 1102 can use a common counterelectrode.I have found that it is possible to cross EV guides, under certainconditions, typically at 90°, without the effect of "shorting" thatwould occur in wired circuits. Of course timing considerations must beobserved to prevent actual collision of EVs at the intersection. In mostEV logic circuits it is expected that the occupancy of the guide is verylow, largely due to the high power of the EV and the small need to havea high occupancy. In certain special cases it may be necessary toconsider what kind of spurious waves are launched down the side branchesof the crossings and take preventive measures against them.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising a source ofcharged particles; a solid dielectric body having an elongated groovepositioned to be responsive to the charged particles; means foraccelerating the charged particles in the elongated groove; acounterelectrode capacitively coupled to the groove and the chargedparticles; the accelerating means including plural electrodes positionedbetween the groove and the counterelectrode at different longitudinalpositions along the length of the groove, the plural electrodes beingbiased differentially with respect to each other and the source; thegroove and plural electrodes being arranged and the counterelectrode andplural electrodes being biased and the charged particles propagating inand being guided by the groove and coupled to the solid dielectric bodyand the counterelectrode so charged particles applied to the groove bythe source during a first interval charge the dielectric to have aneffect on charged particles subsequently propagating in and guided bythe groove; and output means responsive to the charged particlespropagating in the groove for deriving a response dependent on saidpropagating charged particles.
 2. An electronic device comprising asource of charged particles; a solid dielectric body having an elongatedgroove positioned to be responsive to the charged particles; means foraccelerating the charged particles in the elongated groove; acounterelectrode capacitively coupled to the groove and the chargedparticles; the groove being arranged and the counterelectrode beingbiased and the charged particles propagating in and being guided by thegroove and coupled to the solid dielectric body and the counterelectrodeso charged particles applied to the groove by the source during a firstinterval charge the dielectric to have an effect on charged particlessubsequently propagating in and guided by the groove; deflection meansfor changing the propagation direction of the charged particles in thegroove; and output means responsive to the charged particles propagatingin the groove for deriving a response dependent on said propagatingcharged particles.
 3. The device of claim 2 wherein the deflection meansincludes a deflection electrode capacitively coupled to the groove andextending in the longitudinal direction of the groove, the deflectionelectrode being responsive to a deflection voltage having a magnitudefor changing the charged particle propagation direction so the chargedparticles are deflected in the groove.
 4. The device of claim 2 whereinthe deflection means is arranged to deflect the charged particles out ofthe groove.
 5. The device of claim 4 wherein the output means comprisesan optical source positioned to be responsive to the charged particlesdeflected out of the groove so that in response to the deflected chargedparticles being incident on the optical source photons are emittedthereby.
 6. An electronic device comprising a source of chargedparticles; a solid dielectric body having an elongated groove positionedto be responsive to the charged particles; means for accelerating thecharged particles in the elongated groove; a counterelectrodecapacitively coupled to the groove and the charged particles; and a slowwave conducting structure capacitively coupled to the groove andextending in generally the same direction as the groove so as electricwave is coupled in the structure in response to the particlespropagating in the groove; the groove being arranged and thecounterelectrode being biased and the charged particles propagating inand being guided by the groove and coupled to the solid dielectric bodyand the counterelectrode so charged particles applied to the groove bythe source during a first interval charge the dielectric to have aneffect on charged particles subsequently propagating in and guided bythe groove.
 7. The device of claim 6 wherein the slow wave structure ispositioned as an electromagnetic radiator.
 8. An electronic devicecomprising a source of charged particles; a solid dielectric surfacehaving a channel positioned to be responsive to and constructed to guidethe charged particles of the source; a counter electrode capacitivelycoupled to the channel; means for accelerating the charged particlesalong the channel; the accelerating means including plural electrodespositioned between the channel and the counter electrode at differentlongitudinal positions along the length of the channel, means forbiasing the plural electrode differentially with respect to each otherand the source; means for activating the charged particle source; thecharged particle source, the dielectric, the channel, the counterelectrode, the accelerating electrode and the means for activating beingsuch that plural discrete contained charged particle bundles derivedfrom the source propagate along the channel while voltages for thecounter electrodes and accelerating electrode are constant and thesource is activated to a single state.
 9. The device of claim 8 furtherincluding an electron multiplier in the channel responsive to chargedparticles propagating along the channel.
 10. The device of claim 9wherein the electron multiplier is located between the source and themeans for accelerating.
 11. The device of claim 9 wherein the electronmultiplier is superposed with the means for accelerating.
 12. The deviceof claim 9 wherein the electron multiplier includes first and seconddisplaced segments, the first segment being located between the sourceand the means for accelerating, the second segment being superposed withthe means for accelerating.
 13. An electronic device comprising a sourceof charged particles; a solid dielectric surface having a channelpositioned to be responsive to and constructed to guide the chargedparticles of the source; a counter electrode capacitively coupled to thechannel; means for accelerating the charged particles along the channel;and means for activating the charged particle source; the chargedparticle source, the dielectric, the channel, the counter electrode, theaccelerating electrode and the means for activating being such thatplural discrete contained charged particle bundles derived from thesource propagate along the channel while voltages for the counterelectrode and accelerating electrode are constant and the source isactivated to a single state; and an electron multiplier in the channelresponsive to charged particles propagating along the channel.
 14. Anelectronic device comprising a source of charged particles; a soliddielectric surface having a channel positioned to be responsive to andconstructed to guide the charged particles of the source; a counterelectrode capacitvely coupled to the channel; means for accelerating thecharged particles along the channel; means for activating the chargedparticle source; the charged particle source; the dielectric, thechannel, the counter electrode, the accelerating electrode and the meansfor activating being such that plural discrete contained chargedparticle bundles derived from the source propagate along the channelwhile voltages for the counter electrode and accelerating electrode areconstant and the source is activated to a single state; the channelincluding a first segment and a second re-entrant to the second segment,and port means for selectively segment, the first segment supplyingbundles from the coupling bundles propagating in the first segment tothe second segment during a first interval and for selectively couplingbundles propagating in the second segment to the first segment during asecond interval.
 15. The device of claim 14 wherein the second segmentincludes reactances for affecting the speed of the bundles propagatingtherein.
 16. The device of claim 15 wherein the reactances includeinductances and capacitances.
 17. The device of claim 16 wherein thesecond segment includes a metal structure enclosing the bundles so thatthe structure is spaced from the bundles, the structure including thechannel.
 18. The device of claim 17 wherein the structure includes metalwall means surrounding the channel, and metal fingers extending radiallyfrom the wall means toward the channel.
 19. The device of claim 15further including electric shield means surrounding the channel.
 20. Thedevice of claim 19 wherein the shield means includes gaps transparent toelectromagnetic radiation for coupling electromagnetic radiation in thechannel to a region outside of the shield means.
 21. The device of claim15 wherein the device includes means for coupling electromagneticradiation in the channel to a region outside of the shield means.
 22. Anelectronic device comprising a source of charged particles; a soliddielectric surface having a channel positioned to be responsive to andconstructed to guide the charged particles of the source; a counterelectrode capacitively coupled to the channel; means for acceleratingthe charged particles along the channel; means for activating thecharged particle source; the charged particle source, dielectric,channel, counter electrode, accelerating electrode and means foractivating being such that plural discrete contained charged particlebundles derived from the source propagate along the channel whilevoltages for the counter electrode and accelerating electrode areconstant and the source is activated to a single state, the channelincluding reactances for affecting the speed of the bundles propagatingtherein, and means for coupling electromagnetic radiation in the channelto a region outside of the electronic device.
 23. The device of claim 22wherein a metal structure encloses the bundles so that the structure isspaced from the bundles, the structure including the channel.
 24. Thedevice of claim 23 wherein the structure includes metal wall meanssurrounding the channel, and metal fingers extending radially from thewall means toward the channel.
 25. The device of claim 24 wherein thestructure includes gaps transparent to electromagnetic radiation, thegaps being included in the means for coupling electromagnetic radiation.26. The device of claim 22 wherein the channel includes undulations tocause the bundles to undulate spatially as they propagate along thechannel.
 27. The device of claim 26 wherein the undulations areparasitic.
 28. An electronic device comprising a source of chargedparticles; a solid dielectric body having an elongated groove positionedto be responsive to the charged particles; means for accelerating thecharged particles in the elongated groove; a counter electrodecapacitively coupled to the groove and the charged particles; means foractivating the charged particle source; the charged particle source,dielectric, groove, counter electrode, accelerating electrode and meansfor activating being such that plural discrete contained chargedparticle bundles derived from the source propagate in the groove whilevoltages for the counter electrode and accelerating electrode areconstant and the source is activated to a single state; the grooveincluding a region where a first segment thereof opens into a secondsegment, the first segment being narrower than the second segment, thecounter electrode having a width narrower than the second segment, thecounter electrode being superposed with the first segment andterminating in the vicinity of the region.
 29. The device of claim 28wherein the counter electrode is tapered to a point at its termination.30. The device of claim 28 further including deflector electrode meansfor establishing a deflecting field in said region between a side wallof the second segment and the bundles entering the region from the firstsegment.
 31. The device of claim 30 wherein the deflector electrodemeans includes a deflector electrode extending in the direction ofpropagation of the bundles in the first segment and coupled to thesecond segment.
 32. The device of claim 30 wherein the deflectorelectrode means includes first and second deflection electrodesextending in the direction of propagation of the bundles in the firstsegment and coupled to the second segment, said first and seconddeflection electrodes being respectively positioned proximate first andsecond opposite side walls of the second segment.
 33. The device ofclaim 30 further including collector electrode means for the bundlesadjacent a side wall of the second segment downstream of the region. 34.The device of claim 33 wherein the groove includes a further segmentdownstream of the second segment, the further and first segments havingapproximately the same widths, the second and further segments beingarranged and the electrode means being arranged so selected bundlesentering the region propagate to the further segment and other bundlesentering the region are collected by the collector electrode means. 35.The device of claim 33 wherein the groove includes plural furthersegments, the further and first segments having approximately the samewidths, the second and further segments being arranged and the electrodemeans being arranged so selected bundles entering the region propagateto different ones of the plural further segments.
 36. The device ofclaim 33 wherein the groove includes a further narrow segment downstreamof the wide segment, a barrier in the wide segment for dividing thebundles propagating in the wide segment into first and second pathsextending between the region and the further narrow segment after thebundles have been selectively deflected in the region.
 37. The device ofclaim 33 further including means for selectively coupling a bias sourceto the deflector electrode in response to the passage of said bundlesalong a predetermined path in the wide segment.
 38. The device of claim37 wherein the means for selectively coupling includes a photoconductorresponsive to optical energy in each of the bundles propagating in thepredetermined path.
 39. The device of claim 37 wherein the means forselectively coupling includes a diode responsive to an electric fieldassociated with each of the bundles propagating in the predeterminedpath.
 40. The device of claim 33 wherein the deflector electrode meansincludes first and second deflection electrodes extending in thedirection of propagation of the bundles in the narrow segment andcoupled to the wide segment, said first and second deflection electrodesbeing respectively positioned proximate first and second opposite sidewalls of the wide segment, means for selectively coupling a bias sourceto one of the first and second deflector electrodes in response to thepassage of said bundles along first and second predetermined pathsrespectively associated with said first and second deflector electrodes,the first and second paths being in the wide segment.
 41. The device ofclaim 40 further including a barrier in the wide segment for dividingthe bundles propagating in the wide segment into the first and secondpaths.
 42. The device of claim 40 wherein the means for selectivelycoupling includes for each deflector electrode a photoconductorresponsive to optical energy in each of the bundles propagating in thepath associated with the particular deflector electrode.
 43. The deviceof claim 40 wherein the means for selectively coupling includes for eachdeflector electrode a diode responsive to an electric field associatedwith each of the bundles propagating in the path associated with theparticular deflector electrode.
 44. The device of claim 40 furtherincluding first and second collector electrodes in the wide segment, thefirst and second collector electrodes respectively being downstream ofsaid first and second deflector electrodes, means for selectivelyconnecting a bias source to the first and second collector electrodes inresponse to the passage of said bundles along said first and secondpredetermined paths.
 45. The device of claim 33 wherein the collectorand deflection electrodes are on opposite side walls of the widesegment, said collector and defection electrodes on the opposite sidewalls being electrically connected together.
 46. The device of claim 45wherein the collector electrode emits secondary electrons in response toelectrons emitted from the bundles, and means for collecting the emittedsecondary electrons.
 47. The device of claim 46 wherein the collectingmeans includes an electrode positioned and biased to respond to thesecondary electrons.
 48. The device of claim 28 further including meansfor causing the bundles entering the wide segment to propagateselectively in first and second paths in the wide segment, said lastnamed means including means interacting with the bundles for causingsuccessive alternate ones of said bundles to propagate along the firstand second paths so that adjacent bundles respectively propagate in thefirst and second paths.
 49. The device of claim 48 wherein the means forcausing the bundles to propagate in the first and second paths includesfirst and second electrodes extending respectively in proximity to firstand second side walls of the wide segment, said first and secondelectrodes extending in the direction of bundle propagation in thenarrow segment, the first and second electrodes being coupled to thebundles so that charge resulting from the bundles causes the electrodesto be charged.
 50. The device of claim 49 wherein the first electrode islocated proximate a region where the narrow segment opens into the widesegment, the second electrode being located remote from the region wherethe narrow segment opens into the wide segment, the first and secondelectrodes being connected to each other.
 51. The device of claim 49wherein the first electrode is located proximate a region where thenarrow segment opens into the wide segment, the second electrode beinglocated proximate and remote from the region where the narrow segmentopens into the wide segment.
 52. The device of claim 48 furtherincluding means for providing first and second relatively narrow groovesin a solid dielectric structure, said first and second grooves beingpositioned to respectively provide paths for the bundles propagating inthe first and second paths.
 53. The device of claim 48 further includingmeans responsive to the bundles for deriving signals indicating which ofthe paths was last traversed by one of said bundles.
 54. The device ofclaim 28 further including means for selectively supplying said bundlesto first and second regions of the wide segment, the first and secondregions being adjacent opposite side walls of the wide segment, thenarrow segment opening into the wide segment in a third region, thethird region being between the first and second regions, the bundlessupplied to the first and second regions propagating in the wide segmentvia different first and second paths, electrode means coupled to thefirst and second paths responsive to the charged particles in the pathsfor causing a charge to be stored in the path which was last traversedby one of said bundles, the bundles supplied to the third region beingdeflected into one of said paths as a function of the charge stored inthe path which was last traversed in one of said bundles.
 55. The deviceof claim 54 wherein the electrode means responds to the bundles suppliedto the third region for deriving an electric signal indicative of whichof the first and second paths was last traversed by one of the bundles.56. A stepping register including a source of charged particles; a soliddielectric surface having a channel positioned to be responsive to andconstructed to guide the charged particles of the source; a counterelectrode capacitvely coupled to the channel; means for accelerating thecharged particles along the channel; means for activating the chargedparticle source; the charged particle source, dielectric, channel,counter electrode, accelerating electrode and means for activating beingsuch that plural discrete contained charged particle bundles derivedfrom the source propagate along the channel while voltages for thecounter electrode and accelerating electrode are constant and the sourceis activated to a single state; a plurality (N) of cascaded registerstages responsive to the charged particle bundles derived from thesource, each of said stages including: a solid dielectric having input,output and intermediate regions, the input and output regions includingchannels having widths in the dielectric for guiding the bundles, theintermediate region being responsive to bundles in the input region andincluding a width for establishing first and second paths for thebundles therein, the input and output regions having widths that arenarrower than the width of the intermediate region, the bundles in oneof said paths being coupled via the output region to a channel having awidth that is approximately the width of the input and output regions, achannel in the input region of stage k being coupled to a channel in theoutput region of stage (k-1) so a bundle propagating in the channel inthe output region of stage (k-1) propagates in the channel in the inputregion of stage k, where k=2..N, the channel in the input region ofstage N being responsive to bundles derived from the source.
 57. Theregister of claim 56 wherein each stage includes signal responsive meanscoupled to the intermediate region of the stage for controlling in whichof the paths the bundles propagate in the particular stage, the stagesbeing constructed so that the path of the bundles does not change eventhough a signal is no longer supplied to the signal responsive means.58. The register of claim 57 wherein stage N includes a data responsiveelectrode for controlling the propagation path of bundles in theintermediate region of stage N, and means responsive to the propagationof the bundles in the stages for transferring the data from stage N tostage N-1.
 59. The register of claim 58 wherein stage N includes a firstelectrode for collecting some charged particles in the bundlespropagating in one of the paths, stage (N-1) including a secondelectrode for controlling the particle propagation path in stage (N-1),the first and second electrodes being connected so that the chargecollected on the first electrode in response to bundle p controls thepath of bundle (p+1) in stage (N-1).
 60. The register of claim 57wherein stage N includes a data responsive electrode for controlling thepropagation path of bundles in the intermediate region of stage N, andmeans responsive to the propagation of the bundles in the stages forsequentially transferring the data from stage N to stage (n-1).
 61. Theregister of claim 60 wherein each stage includes a first electrode forcollecting some charged particles in the bundles propagating in one ofthe paths of the stage and a second electrode for controlling theparticle propagation path in the stage, the first electrode of stage kbeing connected to the second electrode of stage (k-1) so that thecharge collected on the first electrode of stage k in response to bundlep propagating through stage k controls the path of bundle (p+1) in stage(k-1).
 62. The register of claim 60 wherein certain of said stagesinclude a first electrode for collecting some charged particles in thebundles propagating in one of the paths of the stage and a secondelectrode for controlling the particle propagation path in the stage,the first electrode of stage k being connected to the second electrodeof stage m so that the charge collected on the first electrode of stagek in response to bundle p propagating through stage k controls the pathof bundle (p+m) in stage m, where k, m and p are integers, and k isgreater than m.
 63. A display comprising a source of charged particles;a solid dielectric surface having a first channel positioned to beresponsive to and constructed to guide the charged particles of thesource; a counter electrode capacitively coupled to the channel; meansfor accelerating the charged particles along the channel; means foractivating the charged particle source; the charged particle source, thedielectric, the channel, the counter electrode, the acceleratingelectrode and the means for activating being such that plural discretecontained charged particle bundles derived from the source propagatealong the channel while voltages for the counter electrode andaccelerating electrode are constant and the source is activated to asingle state, means for selectively deflecting some electrons from thebundles propagating along the channel without substantially affectingthe remainder of the charged particles in the bundles propagating alongthe channel, the deflected electrons propagating in a path substantiallyat right angles to the channel; and phosphorescent means positioned inthe path to be responsive to the deflected electrons for emittingoptical energy in response to the electrons being incident thereon. 64.The display of claim 63 wherein the means for deflecting includes soliddielectric means having a second channel extending in the same directionas the first channel and responsive to a source of charged particles,electrodes for the second channel interacting with the charged particlesfor causing second bundles of charged particles to propagate in thesecond channel, deflection control electrodes for electrons in the firstbundles electrostatically coupled to the second bundles and theelectrons in the first bundles, said deflection control electrodes beingpositioned between the first channel and the phosphorescent means. 65.The display of claim 63 wherein the means for deflecting includes soliddielectric means having plural second channels extending in the samedirection as the first channel, each of said second channels beingresponsive to a source of charged articles, electrodes for the secondchannels interacting with the charged particles for causing secondbundles of charged particles to propagate in the second channels, pluraldeflection control electrodes for electrons in the first bundleselectrostatically coupled to the second bundles and the electrons in thefirst bundles, different ones of the deflection control electrodes beingpositioned along a single path and at different distances between thefirst channel and the phosphorescent means.
 66. A display comprising asource of charged particles; a solid dielectric surface having pluralpaths positioned to be responsive to and constructed to guide thecharged particles of the source; a counter electrode capacitivelycoupled to the channel; means for accelerating the charged particlesalong the channel; means for activating the charged particle source; thecharged particle source, dielectric, channel, counter electrode,accelerating electrode and means for activating being such that pluraldiscrete contained charged particle bundles derived from the sourcepropagate along the channel while voltages for the counter electrode andaccelerating electrode are constant and the source is activated to asingle state; means for selectively deflecting some electrons from thebundles propagating along the channel without substantially affectingthe remainder of the charged particles in the bundles propagating alongthe channel, the deflected electrons propagating in a path substantiallyat right angles to the channel, each of said paths being at a differentlongitudinal region along the channel, different ones of the regionsbeing spaced from each other; and a phosphorescent means positioned inthe path to be responsive to the deflected electrons for emittingoptical energy in response to the electrons being incident thereon. 67.The display of claim 66 wherein the means for deflecting includes soliddielectric means having a second channel extending in the same directionas the first channel and responsive to a source of charged particles,electrodes for the second channel interacting with the charged particlesfor causing second bundles of charged particles to propagate in thesecond channel, deflection control electrodes for electrons in the firstbundles electrostatically coupled to the second bundles and theelectrons in the first bundles, the deflection control electrodes beingpositioned between the first channel and the phosphorescent means. 68.The display of claim 66 wherein the means for deflecting includes soliddielectric means having plural second channels extending in the samedirection as the first channel, each of said second channels beingresponsive to a source of charged particles, electrodes for the secondchannels interacting with the charged particles for causing secondbundles of charged particles to propagate in the second channels, pluraldeflection control electrodes for electrons in the first bundleselectrostatically coupled to the second bundles and the electrons in thefirst bundles, different ones of the deflection control electrodes beingpositioned along a single path and at different distances between thefirst channel and the phosphorescent means.
 69. In combination, a sourceof charged particles; a solid dielectric surface having a channelpositioned to be responsive to and constructed to guide the chargedparticles of the source; a counter electrode capacitively coupled to thechannel; means for accelerating the charged particles along the channel;means for activating the charged particle source; the charged particlesource, the dielectric, channel, counter electrode, acceleratingelectrode and means for activating being such that plural discretecontained charged particle bundles derived from the source propagatealong the channel while voltages for the counter electrode andaccelerating electrode are constant and the source is activated to asingle state;a flat panel display responsive to the bundles, saiddisplay including a dielectric plate having plural spaced first channelsextending in a first coordinate direction, said first channels beingresponsive to the bundles; electrode means coupled to the firstchannels; the dielectric plate and the electrode means interacting withthe bundles for selectively guiding the bundles along the firstchannels; means for selectively deflecting some electrons from thebundles propagating along said first channels without substantiallyaffecting the remainder of the charged particles in the bundlespropagating along the channel, the deflected electrons propagating inplural paths substantially at right angles to the guide channel, each ofsaid paths being at a different longitudinal region along the respectiveguide channel, different ones of the regions being spaced from eachother; and a phosphorescent plate superposed with the dielectric platepositioned in the paths to be responsive to the deflected electrons foremitting optical energy in response to the electrons being incidentthereon.
 70. The display of claim 69 wherein the means for deflectingincludes solid dielectric means having plural second channels extendingin the same direction as the first channels, each of said secondchannels being responsive to a source of charged particles, electrodesfor the second channels interacting with the charged particles forcausing second bundles of charged particles to propagate in the secondchannels, plural deflection control electrodes for electrons in thefirst bundles electrostatically coupled to the second bundles and theelectrons in the first bundles, different ones of the deflection controlelectrodes being positioned along a single path and at differentdistances between the first channel and the phosphorescent plate. 71.The combination of claim 69 wherein the means for deflecting includes astepping register having; a plurality of cascaded register stagesresponsive to the charged particle bundles derived from the source, eachof said stages including: a solid dielectric having input, output andintermediate regions, the input and output regions including channelshaving first widths in the dielectric for guiding the bundles, theintermediate region being responsive to bundles in the input region andincluding a portion having a second width for establishing first andsecond paths for the bundles therein, the first width being narrowerthan the second width, the bundles in one of said paths being coupledvia the output region to a channel having the first width, a channelhaving the first width in the input region of stage k being coupled to achannel having the first width in the output region of stage (k-1) so abundle propagating in the channel having the first width in the outputregion of stage (k-1) propagates in the channel having the first widthin the input region of stage k, where k=z.
 72. The combination of claim71 wherein each stage includes signal responsive means coupled to theportion having the second width for controlling in which of the pathsthe bundles propagate in the particular stage, the stages beingconstructed so that the path of the bundles does not change even thougha signal is no longer supplied to the signal responsive means.
 73. Thecombination of claim 72 wherein stage N includes a data responsiveelectrode for controlling the propagation path of bundles in the portionhaving the second width of stage N, and means responsive to thepropagation of the bundles in the stages for transferring the data fromstage N to stage N-1.
 74. The combination of claim 73 wherein stage Nincludes a first electrode for collecting some charged particles in thebundles propagating in one of the paths, stage (N-1) including a secondelectrode for controlling the particle propagation path in stage (N-1),the first and second electrodes being connected so that the chargecollected on the first electrode in response to bundle p controls thepath of bundle (p+1) in stage (N-1).
 75. An electronic device comprisinga source of charged particles; a solid dielectric surface having achannel positioned to be responsive to and constructed to guide thecharged particles of the source; a counter electrode capacitivelycoupled to the channel; means for accelerating the charged particlesalong the channel; means for activating the charged particle source; thecharged particle source, dielectric, channel, counter electrode,accelerating electrode and means for activating being such that pluraldiscrete contained charged particle bundles derived from the sourcepropagate along the channel while voltages for the counter electrode andaccelerating electrode are constant and the source is activated to asingle state exterior surfaces of said channel including means forremoving stray charge by providing substantial electrical inductancealong the channel.
 76. The device of claim 75 wherein the stray chargeremoving means includes a thin metal film.
 77. The device of claim 76further including a metal strip in proximity to an end of the channelfor providing substantial electric inductance from the channel to areference potential.
 78. The device of claim 75 further including adielectric cover superposed with the channel.
 79. An electronic devicecomprising a source of charged particles; a solid dielectric surfacehaving a channel positioned to be responsive to and constructed to guidethe charged particles of the source; a counter electrode capacitivelycoupled to the channel; means for accelerating the charged particlesalong the channel; means for activating the charged particle source; thecharged particle source, dielectric, channel, counter electrode,accelerating electrode and means for activating being such that pluraldiscrete contained charged particle bundles derived from the sourcepropagate along the channel while voltages for the counter electrode andaccelerating electrode are constant and the source is activated to asingle state; a solid dielectric including a pair of intersectingchannels responsive to the charged particle bundles; and counterelectrode means for each of the intersecting channels capacitivelycoupled to the bundles propagating in the intersecting channels.
 80. Thedevice of claim 79 wherein the counter electrode means include separatemutually insulated first and second electrodes for the intersectingchannels.
 81. In combination, an electronic device comprising a sourceof charged particles; a solid dielectric surface having a channelpositioned to be responsive to and constructed to guide the chargedparticles of the source; a counter electrode capacitively coupled to thechannel; means for accelerating the charged particles along the channel;means for activating the charged particle source; the charged particlesource, dielectric, channel, counter electrode, accelerating electrodeand means for activating being such that plural discrete containedcharged particle bundles derived from the source propagate along thechannel while voltages for the counter electrode and acceleratingelectrode are constant and the source is activated to a single state; ananalog to digital converter responsive to the bundles derived by thesource, the converter including means responsive to an analog signalsource for deflecting the bundles into at least multiple selectorguides, each of said guides including means for deriving a digitalsignal unique to the particular guide in response to a bundle beingdeflected to it.
 82. The combination of claim 81 wherein the means forselecting includes means for controlling the deflection angle of thebundles.
 83. The combination of claim 82 wherein he means for selectingincludes a pair of spaced deflector electrodes extending longitudinallygenerally in the propagation direction of bundles derived by the sourceand positioned on opposite sides of an axis for particles derived by thesource.
 84. The combination of claim 83 wherein the selector guides arearcuately arranged relative to the axis so that different ones of theguides are at different angles relative to the axis.
 85. The combinationof claim 84 further including a dielectric expansion spaced over whichthe bundles propagate between the deflector electrodes and the selectorguides.
 86. The combination of claim 85 wherein the expansion spaceincludes a charge dispelling means.
 87. The combination of claim 86wherein the charge dispelling means includes a resistive layer.
 88. Thecombination of claim 87 wherein the layer has a resistive grading in aregion between the deflector electrodes and the selector guides.
 89. Thecombination of claim 88 wherein the resistively of the layer in thevicinity of the deflector electrodes is lower than the resistivity ofthe layer in the vicinity of the selector guides.
 90. The combination ofclaim 81 wherein the means for deriving the digital signal includesmeans in each selector for deriving a plurality of said bundles ofcharged particles, said plurality of bundles derived in each selectorbeing spaced in time.
 91. The combination of claim 90 further includingmeans for supplying the plural bundles derived in each selector toplural channels in a solid dielectric, each of the plural channelshaving means for guiding the bundles.
 92. A video display responsive toa video signal comprising a source of charged particles; a soliddielectric surface having a channel positioned to be responsive to andconstructed to guide the charged particles of the source; a counterelectrode capacitively coupled to the channel; means for acceleratingthe charged particles along the channel; means for activating thecharged particle source; the charged particle source, dielectric,channel, counter electrode, accelerating electrode and means foractivating being such that plural discrete contained charged particlebundles derived from the source propagate along the channel whilevoltages for the counter electrode and accelerating electrode areconstant and the source is activated to a single state;a flat paneldisplay responsive to the bundles, the display including aphosphorescent panel and an x-y array of columns and rows so that thereis a pixel on the panel at intersections of the columns and rows; meansresponsive to the bundles for selecting the pixels in a sequentialordered manner; said selecting means including a solid dielectric havingat least several parallel channels extending in open of the coordinatedirections, electrode means and the several parallel channels guidingthe bundles along the solid dielectrics; the panel being superposed withsaid extending in a plane parallel to the several parallel channels; andmeans responsive to the video signal for selectively deflecting someelectrons from the bundles propagating along the several parallelchannels onto the pixels on the panel without substantially affectingthe remainder of the charged particles in the bundles propagating alongthe several parallel channels.
 93. The display of claim 92 wherein themeans for deflecting includes a solid dielectric having plural channelsfor each of the several parallel channels, the plural channels extendingin the same direction as the several parallel channels and being locatedin stacked relation between the several parallel channels and thephosphorescent plate so that at each pixel there is a path for electronsin the bundles from the bundles propagating in the several parallelchannels to the plate, the amplitude of the video signal controlling thepropagation of the bundles in the plural channels and therebycontrolling the electrons deflected from the bundles propagating in theplural channels to control the intensity of optical energy at eachpixel.
 94. In combination, a source of charged particles; a soliddielectric surface having a channel positioned to be responsive to andconstructed to guide the charged particles of the source; a counterelectrode capacitively coupled to the channel; means for acceleratingthe charged particles along the channel; means for activating thecharged particle source; the charged particle source, dielectric,channel, counter electrode, accelerating electrode and means foractivating being such that plural discrete contained charged particlebundles derived from the source propagate along the channel whilevoltages for the counter electrode and accelerating electrode areconstant and the source is activated to a single state; means responsiveto the bundles for sequentially selecting one of plural (N) outputs,said selecting means including first and second sets of N cascadedregister stages, each including a solid dielectric having a channel andelectrodes for guiding the bundles; the first and second sets of stagesbeing respectively responsive to said bundles propagating at first andsecond different frequencies, where the second frequency is an integralmultiple of the first frequency, each of said stages selectivelycoupling the bundles coupled to it to one of first and second paths sothat while the bundles propagate in the first and second paths theparticular stage is in first and second states, respectively, the stagesof the first set including electrodes connected to sequential stages ofthe first set for transferring the state of a first stage to an adjacentsecond stage in response to the bundles propagating in the first stage,the electrodes of the stages of the first set being connected toelectrodes of corresponding stages of the second set to transfer thestates of the stages of the first set to the corresponding stages of thesecond set, the stages of the second set being responsive to the bundlespropagating at the second frequency to read out the states of the secondstages to the N outputs.
 95. The combination of claim 94 wherein each ofthe stages includes input, output and intermediate regions in the soliddielectric, the input and output regions including channels havingwidths in the dielectric for guiding the bundles, the intermediateregion being responsive to bundles in the input region and including awidth for establishing first and second paths for the bundles therein,the channels having widths that are narrow relative to the width of theintermediate region, the bundles in one of said paths being coupled viathe output region to a channel, a channel in he input region of stage kbeing coupled to a channel in the output region of stage (k-1) so abundle propagating in the channel in the output region of stage (k-1)propagates in the channel in the input region of stage k, where k=2...N,the channel in the input region of stage N being responsive to bundlesderived from the source.
 96. An electronic device comprising a source ofcharged particles; a solid dielectric surface having a first channelpositioned to be responsive to and constructed to guide the chargedparticles of the source; a counter electrode capacitively coupled to thefirst channel; means for accelerating the charged particles along thefirst channel; means for activating the charged particle source; thecharged particle source, dielectric, first channel, counter electrode,accelerating electrode and means for activating being such that pluraldiscrete contained charged particle bundles are derived from the sourceand propagate along the first channel while voltages for the counterelectrode and accelerating electrode are constant and the source isactivated to a single state; means responsive to the bundles forselectively deflecting the bundles into at least one predetermined path,said means for deflecting including a solid electrical insulator havinga second channel positioned to be responsive to the bundles propagatingalong the first channel; and deflector electrode means extending in adirection of bundle propagation from the first channel into the secondchannel for selectively establishing a deflecting electric field for thebundles toward opposite side walls of the second channel.
 97. The deviceof claim 96 wherein the deflector electrode means includes first andsecond electronic electrodes extending in the direction of propagationof the bundles along the first channel and coupled to the secondchannel, said first and second deflection electrodes being respectivelypositioned proximate first and second opposite side walls of the secondchannel.
 98. An electronic device comprising a source of chargedparticles; a solid dielectric body having an elongated groove positionedto be responsive to the charged particles; means for accelerating thecharged particles in the elongated groove; a counterelectrodecapacitively coupled to the groove and the charged particles; theaccelerating means including plural electrodes positioned between thegroove and the counterelectrode at different longitudinal positionsalong the length of the groove, the plural electrodes being biaseddifferentially with respect to each other and the source; the groove andplural electrodes being arranged and the counterelectrode and pluralelectrodes being biased and the charged particles propagating in andbeing guided by the groove and coupled to the solid dielectric body andthe counterelectrode so charged particles applied to the grove by thesource are in a discrete bundle during a first interval, the chargedparticles in the discrete bundle charging the dielectric to have aneffect on charged particles subsequently propagating in and guided bythe groove; and output means responsive to the charged particlespropagating in the groove for deriving a response dependent on saidpropagating charged particles.
 99. The device of claim 98 wherein thesource of charged particles includes means for emitting the chargedparticles as discrete bundles, each of which includes electrons. 100.The device of claim 98 wherein the source of charged particles includesmeans for emitting the charged particles as discrete bundles, each ofwhich includes predominantly electrons.